Naruto's Lucky Bet
by HeirOfStars
Summary: Naruto/Hinata. NaruHina Alternate Universe. On-going. Sasuke gets drunk and sets Naruto to kiss a girl he has never met before in the club. Who is she? You can guess already. The first chapter was done long ago and only had intended to continue it in a chapter-series. It my first NARUHINA fanfic! Hope you'll enjoy :D
1. The Lucky Bet

**Author's note: This was done a long time ago, when I was watching some kind dramatic action movie. Forgotten what it was but anyways, this was my first NaruHina fanfic. It's totally ALTERNATE UNIVERSE. Like really. And the reason why Hinata was in the club was because TenTen dragged her along so that she could have a chance with some guys. HAHA! cos' Neji challenged her. :{ me and my mind... oooh.**

**Hope you'll enjoy. Should I continue with an another chapter for this? Cos' it was always a one shot to me, ever since.**

* * *

**The Lucky Bet**

"Alright, I'll do it, okay?"

Naruto ran his obvious shaking fingers to ruffle his own hair in frustration. His nervous blue eyes gaze upward to his current center of attraction, a girl at a corner with her hair drawn below her shoulders, as he gradually paced forward. His face flustered while his hands shifted anxiously inside his pockets.

"Are you sure you're able to do this, Scaredy Cat?" Sasuke teased with a hint of snicker behind his voice, "I don't mind you backing out but, you'll owe me a bet you're not able to pay off."

"Shut up," Naruto rebutted back.

With that, Sasuke shoved his friend forward with a cackle.

Naruto, as stubborn as he was, decided to get on with it and end this. He wasn't going to lose to a stupid bet made by a bastard. How hard could it be, to kiss a lady he never met? Well, considering he never met her, he might get beaten up by the girl's possible boyfriend or the girl herself. She would call him a pervert, an idiot and all those other negative things. But, he's rather experienced in that area after having Sakura hit him millions of times due to her short-temper.

Most people would have walked away to a bet such as ones made by Sasuke. He'd give the most ridiculous ones whenever he got drunk. And having him drunk would be a bad idea. This was one of the reasons why Sakura beat him hard on the head on the first place. However, this time, Sasuke's bet wasn't out-of-this-world compared to other occasions. He had clinked glasses with Naruto with his arm hung over him, saying that, Naruto was gay. Naruto rejected the idea until it took him moments to know what Sasuke was about to say, "I bet you are! If not… _prove_ it. Or you need to go around this bar naked."

"Are you _dead_ serious?"

Sasuke pointed to one random girl in the club before he leaned away and sloppily kicked Naruto to move on and hit on the girl. If he was alone with Sasuke at the bar, he would have ignored his stupid statement but the others were with them. Kiba, Shikamaru and Lee were around to agree with Sasuke's blabbers wickedly and cheered Naruto on. That way, he couldn't get out of the situation at all.

"_Sakura's right, never get Sasuke drunk. This is crazy."_

Despite all of his attempts to resist from this dumb bet, the guys had made it worst and began threatening to blackmail him. In the end, he had to do the bet.

He clasped his hands together, and made his game face. He maneuvered across the disco lights and party people to approach the girl with the straight dark hair. She was sitting rather alone on one of the VIP seats, with her face down, staring lifelessly on a glass of wine in front of her. It downed upon Naruto that it might not be good time for him to do such a bet with her now. He knew well enough that girls, whenever they were very emotional -because she seems down and emotional, would result in him getting beat up. In general, he was making inference to his friend, Sakura, again. Nonetheless, he had to get it over and done with.

He meditated in his head that whatever happens in the club, would stay in the club. And, since he would likely be a stranger to her, he would be forgotten one day.

Having realized someone was standing next to her, the girl looked up, seeing a sheepish smile from a blonde before she asked, "H-Hai?"

Naruto stared at her striking eyes, her smooth dark hair that had fallen perfectly without her trying and her delicate face that revealed a slight smile on her lips. Having gotten himself mesmerized for a moment, he had gotten himself back together when a man from the abundant crowd had accidentally hit him on the back. That's when he began to strike a conversation with her.

"Well… Do you see my friend over there?" Naruto pointed at his "friend", Sasuke, who was lying lifelessly, looking as if he was about to pass out soon on the table, with Kiba and Lee smirking with a thumbs up towards him. Having caught Sasuke's narrowing dark eyes, it made Naruto feel that Sasuke was watching intently on his every move, seeing whether he'd win his bet or not.

"Yes, why?" Her lips revealed a petite and tiny voice. It made Naruto feel sick that he might steal an innocent girl's kiss. It might probably her first kiss too, making Naruto feel guilty.

"I made a lil' bet with him and _you _have to be part of it," Naruto tried his best to keep the girl to stay until he planted that kiss. He had to, if not Sasuke wouldn't let him go. If only Sasuke didn't make such an idiotic bet but, of course, Sasuke wouldn't say that –a non-drunk Sasuke, in fact.

"What do you mean?"

This made Naruto much guiltier, that he would possibly steal the girl's first kiss. He ran a hand over his hair, beginning to sigh.

He had to finish this off and go. Then he'd win Sasuke's stupid bet.

As he reached over next to her, cupping her face with his hands, his eyes slowly closed –even if her eyes were wide, and pressed his lips delicately on her.

He wasn't surprised if she didn't kiss back. Then, he pulled back and he gradually opened his eyes. His eyes, showing him the girl with clueless glassy eyes, made him feel a rush of guilt run through his veins.

"Sorry, I didn't mean of that," Naruto finally stated. He didn't really want to be an ass, especially in front of this girl.

He abruptly stood up, walked through the crowd and disappeared from the girl's vision. Naruto rushed back to only see Sasuke already passed out. Kiba laughed loudly as he began to explain with a number of snickers in between, "He went… unconscious when you… kissed the girl."

With that, the group of guys laughed together in Naruto's expense. However, Naruto kept quiet as he carried his drunk friend off the table and on his shoulders. He walked off with the bastard's weight burdening him and out of the premises of the club. Flagging for a cab, he felt guilt rush back.

"You owe me one, Sasuke- teme!" Naruto glared at his friend.

Back in the club, the girl felt her flushed face with her hands. She felt as if she didn't know what to do until a familiar voice called out to her.

"H-Hi-Hinata?" The dark haired girl watched her brunette friend rush towards her, "Are you alright? Are you okay? I saw him kiss you."

Hinata's eyes stared at her friend, Ten Ten, not knowing what to say. She was kissed. Yes, Hinata-sama got her first kiss by a stranger. A _handsome_ stranger…

* * *

The next day...

"Sakura-san, here are the documents you needed for the trial," Hinata handed to her in an orderly fashion. Sakura, as busy as she was, held her phone between her ear and shoulders, as she smiled in response to receiving the paperwork. She couldn't spare the time to sit still but, that was one of the wonders Sakura Haruno was good at.

"ARE YOU STUPID? HOW MANY DRINKS DID YOU BOTH HAVE LAST NIGHT? WHAT KIND OF DRINKING PARTY WAS THAT ANYWAY? DID YOU BRING SASUKE-KUN HOME?" Hinata heard Sakura yell at the phone. Obviously, Sakura didn't give a hell in the world if anyone was being disturbed by her shrieking. She held a strict and stern reputation, like the boss who was before her. Since she was trained by Tsunade herself, it was an obvious wide contrast when Hinata was compared to Sakura. Hinata was the delicate quiet social worker while Sakura was the hard attorney.

"COME OVER TO THE OFFICE _NOW_, I NEED A REAL TALK WITH YOU."

Having Hinata to work with Sakura posed quite a challenge for her as she never met such a woman before but, as she continued to work with this lady, she learnt how much dedicated she was in her work. They were working on a complicated case upon a custody battle between two parties over a boy. It was a dispute over to whom the boy should be belonged to and Hinata was one of the social workers involved.

Sakura slammed her phone down the table with much anger before she rested her tired hands on her forehead.

"I don't understand why men would want to have drinking parties," Sakura commented in a hoarse voice until she grabbed a glass of water from her pantry, "I don't get it."

Hinata simply smiled to her newly made friend. She, too, couldn't understand anything about men but having to relate anything to a club made her wonder about last night's little episode. Sakura began to shuffle the papers in front of her desk, looking rather serious until she looked up, seeing a rather distracted Hinata.

"If anything's troubling you, you should say it. That way it wouldn't divert you away from your work," Sakura rearranged her desk before she looked into the paragraphs about the boy again. Hinata admired Sakura's blatant attitude. No wonder, she was such a good speaker in terms of being an attorney because her opinions would have been considerable and right.

Hinata just shook her head, trying her best not to think about the blonde man from the night before, "That's alright."

"If you say so…" Sakura stated before she made an abrupt outburst about her boyfriend throwing up on the bed last night because he was drunk.

Maybe, Sakura _wasn't_ as dedicated to her work as much Hinata thought.

"Sakura-san, we should get more focused on Minori…"

"Oh, I'm sorry…"

"I'm meeting with him later at the orphanage. Would you like to come, Sakura-san?"

"That would be a good idea."

"It'll be a long drive there though."

"That's alright, I'm not going to drive," Sakura stated.

"Eh?"

Sakura smirked evilly, "Well, I'm just going to make someone do a good fat favor for me since he let my boyfriend get serious drunk."

"Oh, I see…"

"Well, I'll gather these up and maybe visiting Minori would contribute to our conclusion to our case."

"I hope Minori would be happy with whatever decision that would be made."

Sakura fell silent until she replied in a hoarse voice, "I hope so too,"

"Anyway," Sakura clapped her hands together, "Have you found the owner of that photograph?"

"I haven't… I still couldn't pinpoint who the woman in the photo is. In the state records, the computers didn't seem to have located any match."

"But, I don't get it why you kept it in the first place."

"Good question… I really don't know what came over to me back then. When I found it under the pile of rubble from the fire that broke out in the state tower, I just really thought that I should keep it."

"You mean it survived from the fire?"

"You can say that… Which is quite puzzling, isn't it?"

"Lucky! That can be a lucky charm."

"Hmmm… That's a good idea, since I always kept it in my purse."

Sakura took a moment to look closer at the window, "I wish you'd find who that belongs to though. Maybe you could start off with the survivors of the state tower building."

"Yeah, I should," Hinata smiled.

Their little conversation turned into a halt when one of Sakura's secretaries knocked on the door lightly and came in to say that a visitor was here. Sakura smirked, knowing full well that the _baka_ finally arrived.

"Let him in," Sakura stated in her usual voice which held so much authority.

It indicated that Hinata should be up and leaving. She stood up and bowed to Sakura before she turned for her leave. As Hinata stretched her hand for the carefully embellished handle to the large door, the door unlocked open. Without warning, Hinata stare into the familiar ocean blue eyes and the striking blonde hair.

Hinata pointed with a shaky finger and Naruto took a step back before they both wailed in unison, "_It's you…!"_


	2. Minori

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've decided to continue this! It eventually became a story that comes in a series of chapters. Sorry that it took me long enough. This will continue alright! I don't think this chapter will be as good as the previous one though. Oh well...**

**HOPE YOU ENJOY THOUGH.**

* * *

**Minori**

"Hm… What is this?" Sakura eyed the two who were at the front seats, "You both are unusually quiet,"

Then, there was an uncomfortable silence that followed when Sakura took a pause intentionally,

"Don't you think so, _Naruto_?"

There was a hint of suspicion in Sakura's voice but who could blame her? She had always known Naruto to be speaking audibly about random things, especially when he was behind the wheel.

Naruto felt the suspicious glare from Sakura as he peeked over at the rear view mirror of the car, making the blonde gripping onto the steering wheel out of nervousness. Hinata, on the other hand, tried her best to busy herself by taking a look at the mail on her phone. Both of them knew Sakura enough that she would try to pry on to get more answers and thankfully, they managed to reach their stop before Sakura would have asked anything else.

They turned in to a drive and were welcomed by a brooding and neglected home. What had seemed like a garden was overgrown and was obviously forgotten. Sickly green weeds were creeping over the path towards the house and it even reached the front steps of the wooden creaky staircase. The light of the setting sun was reflected in the grimy windows. It looked abandoned but the shrieking and yelling of mere children coming from the house told a different story.

By this time, Sakura tried to lay the two off. It wasn't her business, was it? And besides, Hinata and Naruto would have assumed that she would be curiously asking about their relationship. And, Sakura didn't want to be labeled predictable.

Sakura _hated_ to be predictable.

"We're already here, Sakura-san," Hinata managed to speak. She didn't dare look at the rosette in the eye and tried to get her courage back to even walk out of the car.

Hinata didn't know why she would even be intimidated of her co-worker. All these while as she worked with Sakura, Hinata didn't feel the slightest bit of fear even with Sakura's booming voice. Hinata had always respected the decisions the rosette made but she didn't understand why she would be afraid over something such as the relationship between her and the blonde. There was nothing to hide actually.

"So, this is where Minori spends everyday..." Hinata heard Sakura gave a small comment before the door clicked open and she left.

By then, it was a signal that she should be up and leaving the car as well to accompany Sakura but she had this urge to stay and linger longer in the car. She wanted to stay with _the blonde_ for a little while.

And she couldn't understand that, after all, the one next to her was the blonde who stole her very first kiss at the club. It was unexpected, _really,_ and adding that they met out of mere coincidence the next day...

After a long period of silence, Hinata spoke up to the blonde with a sincere smile she had tried to achieve.

"Thank you for the ride," Hinata nodded at the blonde's direction before she finally had the same rational she always had to leave the car and meet Sakura's side.

Naruto stared at the girl with the lengthy floral skirt that had covered her ankles and the plain long sleeves. He eyed her long enough until she disappeared from his sight when she and Sakura walked into the strange old cottage by the small lake. If it wasn't for the sign he had seen earlier along the drive, Naruto would have thought the place would have been abandoned long ago because it seemed so historic.

It looked nothing like an orphanage. It seemed like a _historic_ building that would mean a lot for _historical_ people to come by and study because it seemed like _historic_ and _documentary_ material. How is it that people are able to live in _that_ thing?

Naruto contemplated his time if he should go in with Sakura-chan and be awkward with the girl from the bar or stay in the car, unmoving, and have nothing to do.

Well, Naruto would have wanted to avoid the awkward situation, and _hell_, he would have wanted to stay away from the spooky looking house but, here's a chance that maybe it was fate that he met the girl again today for a reason.

And Naruto believed in such things.

What's there to lose if he didn't try, anyway?

Naruto stepped out of the car after he parked it near the front of the house. With a few steps up the steps of the staircase, Naruto could see the interior of the house through the brittle windows.

He eyed to find for a woman with the sparkling gaze and plain straight hair but; he could only see children scrambling around him.

"Oi," Naruto heard someone call below him, only to be greeted by a little boy with deep dark messy hair, large ocean blue eyes and a perky nose. He wore a striped hoodie that reached the boy's knees. If it wasn't for the similarities in the choice of eye color, Naruto wouldn't have bothered to talk to little kid. He wasn't that good with kids.

"_"Oi"_?" Naruto was on his knees before the kid as he ruffled the boy's hair, "Don't you think you should address your _seniors_ with some respect?"

The boy glared at him as Naruto managed to pull off a grin.

"I don't think I want to," the boy continued to glare straight at Naruto.

"Well, ain't you quite a _brat_?" Naruto eyed the kid with a slight smile on his face. He was starting to like this kid, even if the brat didn't.

"What do you want here?"

Naruto blinked his eyes wide open before he realized why he walked in without knocking on the door. He was here to look for that old-fashioned girl and Sakura, _right_? The boy continued to stare intensely at him before Naruto felt a large hit on his right leg.

"OW!" Naruto felt the excruciating pain on his right shin. The boy had some kick in his leg...

"I don't need you adults," the boy shouted before he scampered off.

Not far behind him, Naruto heard a shout.

"Minori-kun! Don't be like that !"

Naruto tilted his head to find the dark haired girl staring widely at him in pure worry. Sakura,on the other hand, was just not far behind her with a smirk on her face.

_So much for a friend_…

"I'll get him," Naruto offered before he attempted to get back up on his feet and run towards the direction Minori had ran off.

Naruto was led out to the kitchen and to the back of the house. As Naruto slammed the door open, he could see Minori dashing off at a distance!

"Oi! Get back here!"

Naruto rushed towards the kid, trying to reach for him. Since Naruto was much faster and was able to he catch up to Minori, he grabbed the boy's hood. With a slight pull, the boy fell on Naruto's lap when he fell backwards. Minori retaliated by kicking and squirming as his attempt to get away from Naruto's grip.

"Relax, kid, I'm not here to fight with ya'," Naruto got the boy back on his feet but he was holding onto Minori's hand, "Besides, I don't think I can win a fight against you."

Minori found the blonde smiling at him and he couldn't say anything else. In the end, Minori simply let Naruto walk him back to the house.

Maybe, Naruto was good with children _after all_.

* * *

"Minori, it's okay," Hinata patted Minori on his head as she tried to relax him after seeing Sakura for the first time, "She's here because she cares for you. We're on your side. "

Minori looked away smugly, not even trying to acknowledge Sakura's presence. He just simply nodded in response to Hinata's words.

"Alright, say your greetings to Sakura-san and... Um..."

"Naruto, the name's Naruto," he revealed a husky voice to Hinata as he made a large grin. He stared down at the kid before he pointed at Sakura, "Well kid, that _lady_ over there, she might look scary at first but she actually _is_."

"Wh-what?! I'm not scary! Hinata, do I look scary to you?"

"Apparently, I think -"

Naruto cut her off before he put an arm around Minori's shoulders, "See? That lady there is bad news."

Minori could only laugh and enjoy the scene set before him. He could only feel so much happiness in spending time with these strangers compared to his time in the orphanage. It was worthwhile.

"Minori-kun," Hinata finally spoke up, only to cut off the amusing quarrel Sakura was having with Naruto, "We're on your side, okay?"

Minori stared up at Hinata's eyes, only to give her a gentle smile and a nod.

* * *

"Hey kid, ever went to the city before?" Naruto nudged an elbow at Minori who was next to him on the front steps, looking out at the sunset.

Minori simply shook his head and glanced down to the ground below.

"Serious?!"

Minori nodded without even looking at Naruto in the eye.

"I didn't want to leave the house I'm only left with... It's the closest thing to knowing my family."

That surprised Naruto. How was it that this _brat_ was able to survive on his own without anyone to turn to? Yeah, he might live in the orphanage with other children but isn't it lonely to think that he had to live without knowing his parents?

And didn't that sound quite familiar ...?

"Alright Minori," Naruto stood up abruptly and pointed a steady finger at his younger companion; "You're going to the city and try some ramen!"

Minori simply gave Naruto a smirk before he arrogantly leaned on his hands, "Ramen sounds stupid."

By Minori's actions, Naruto was reminded how naive and stubborn like he was. He wasn't going to be angered about Minori's words because what would the kid know when he hadn't even tried it?

Naruto grabbed Minori and wrapped his arm around Minori's neck before he gave the little brat a _noogie;_ rubbing his knuckles on the boy's head.

Minori struggled with the similar grin on Naruto's face, "OKAY! OKAY! OKAY! STOP IT!"

Sakura and Hinata gazed down from the window at the two "children" knocking themselves out with a kicking good time. They seem quite close, as if they knew each other ever since. Enjoying the scenery, Hinata giggled under her breath.

The sunset made Naruto's hair seem to have the same shade as the sunset. To think it over, Hinata wouldn't have thought she would see that man from the bar again and seeing him right in front of her eyes, having a wild time with Minori...? She wouldn't even have thought that she wanted to stay and linger longer with him.

He was starting to grab her attention with the entire _"I'm good with kids"_ act. After that kiss, she wouldn't have found herself getting flustered over him since they were bound to be strangers by the end of the day but after having to meet him once again ...

Was this fate or was it simply a _mere_ coincidence?

"You know, I don't understand how you both met," Sakura spoke as she leaned onto the side of the window sill, cutting Hinata from her thoughts, "Are you ex-lovers or something?"

Sakura's apple green eyes glared right through Hinata's eyes. It wasn't that smart to improvise a lie to Sakura now, was it? But Hinata can't make a good lie since it would be obvious enough for Sakura to see through it.

And like rescue, Naruto called up to Sakura from below them and claimed to want Minori to come to the city with them. The fact that Minori was willing was surprising.

Sakura began to debate with Naruto on how hard it was for Minori to leave the orphanage and where he was going to live. Hinata admired how rational Sakura was compared to her. What was Hinata really thinking? She didn't know herself.

"He can live with me!" Hinata heard Naruto shout at Sakura with joy, followed by Minori laughing together with Naruto by his side.

Hinata's eyes widened in astonishment. Things were going to be complicated if he did that. Naruto will be affecting the case and there would be more problems leading after. He would get involved and complaints from the two other parties would be flying at her and Sakura would have to handle more stress than she usually had. Was Naruto thinking this through thoroughly?

"**_WHAT_**?!" Hinata screamed loudly at the blonde below instead of Sakura, startling Naruto and Minori.

* * *

**SIDE NOTE: Did you know the meaning of Minori's name in Japanese means "Truth"? And yes, there will be a reason as to why. Well Minori is cute little boy, okay. The plain dark hair with the striking electric blue eyes is such a wonderful image. I'M GOING CRAZY OVER A LITTLE KID, YES. HAHAA **


	3. Thoughts and Decisions

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: IT'S BEEN A WHILE! SORRY FOR THE WAIT! The chapter's extra long to compensate for all the waiting. HAHA! Please forgive me for the wait. Take note that I'm receiving my examination results next week! Do pray for me!**

* * *

**Thoughts and Decisions**

"_WHAT?!_"

Hinata only realized for a brief moment that she just shrieked at Naruto and Minori. Sakura placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Having felt the embarrassment, Hinata retreated away from the window and covered her lips with her hands.

Why did she _overreact_? It was so unlikely of her.

Sakura continued to pat on Hinata's shoulder, calming the Hyuga down before Sakura herself glanced down at the window and declared loudly to the two "_children_" below.

"Don't be stupid, Naruto. We need to finalize the case quickly!" Sakura glared. It was not that she was against the idea; it is just that it would be difficult and it was guaranteed.

Naruto held his stare at Sakura's eyes before he gazed at Hinata's.

"Believe me! I've got a plan!" Naruto pointed at them with a large grin while Minori did the same.

It was true that Minori was quite attached to Naruto in just a short period of time but, would it be a good idea to let him out of the orphanage? Would it help lead them to a conclusion to Minori's case? They had a week left before the two parties involved would grow impatient.

Hinata gave Sakura a worried look. Hinata knew then that they weren't so sure themselves.

"It's not a bad idea," Hinata heard a quiet voice coming from the doorway of the room they were in. Noticing it was the owner of the orphanage, Hisao-san, both Hinata and Sakura bowed in respect. His hair was graying and when he smiled; his wrinkles became more vivid even in the light of the setting sun.

"Pardon me but, _you _think it's a good idea?" Sakura arched an eyebrow at the old man because the man didn't even show any hesitance to his decision and made her question it.

"Yes," the man smiled sincerely, "I can leave him to you for a few days."

Hinata nodded with a smile. She knew how kind Hisao-san was as she didn't need to demand a reason why. Hisao-san simply was concerned about Minori's welfare and how the little boy should experience new things once in a while when given the opportunity. It was lucky for Minori to be taken under the care of such a wonderful man! That's his explanation if they asked, _right_?

Naruto who overheard the conversation shouted from below, "We'll be happy to take care of him!"

With that, Hisao-san smiled towards Minori's direction -who had a startled expression upon his face.

* * *

The sky grew darker and darker as Naruto turned into an exit and away from the highway. He could hear Minori's light breathing as he slept at the backseat, leaning on Sakura's shoulder who was busily replying her emails on her tablet. Naruto peeked again at the rear view mirror when the car came across to a traffic light.

"How old is Minori?" Naruto asked the girl beside him who was staring out of the window quietly.

Hinata flustered a little before she replied.

"He's turning 7 next year," Hinata smiled.

Naruto squeezed in a short laugh before the traffic light turned green and signaled him to start off the car again. Nobody exchanged a word again until Naruto asked directions to where Hinata lived.

And it surprised Hinata. She never expected she would be driven home, especially by the man she just met.

Once Naruto pulled over to what seemed like a tall apartment building found at the end of the street, Hinata nudged him with a question she had been concerned about from the beginning.

"Where is Minori staying?" Hinata questioned Naruto. Her eyes sparkled against the moonlight and Naruto could feel the same sensation he felt at the bar that night.

"He's going to stay at my place!" Naruto grinned, trying not to worry Hinata, "You could come visit! Here, gimme' your phone."

"Huh?" Hinata stared widely at Naruto. _What?_

Naruto grabbed Hinata's phone from her dainty hands before he pitched in his number on her iPhone. He called his own phone from hers until he smiled back at Hinata.

"That's _my _number. I'll text you again tonight about directions to my place if you wanna' visit Minori," Naruto busied himself on his phone, saving Hinata's number, trying not to give away how embarrassed he was feeling after saying that. If he looked at her, she might see how red his face had gotten. How embarrassing that would be!

Hinata nodded with a smile before she said goodbye to her companions and left the car.

When Naruto thought that his embarrassment was over, Sakura brought it up again with her comment.

"That's just an _excuse _right?" Sakura had a hint of laughter in her voice, referring to what she had witnessed of Naruto giving his number to Hinata, "I have her number, y'know? But you just wanted to ask _the girl yourself_. You're such a womanizer!"

Sakura kicked Naruto seat with a laugh as Naruto tried to deny it.

"Hurry up and drive! I haven't made dinner," Sakura crosses her arms, "You know how Sasuke-kun is."

"Make some for me and Minori too!" Naruto waved his other hand as he used the other to maneuver the steering wheel, "And I don't want tomatoes on my salad!"

Naruto felt a slight kick on his seat again.

"I think I'll be making food for _Minori only_."

Naruto halted the car once again when they came around another traffic junction. He took the time to turn to the backseat and whined.

"OI! I DRAGGED SASUKE TO THE FRONT OF YOUR DOOR."

"THEN WHY WAS HE LYING ON HIS OWN VOMIT?!"

"How should I know about that?"

"Exactly! You left him on the floor!"

"He's a grown man, Sakura-chan!"

"He was a _drunk_ man last night!"

Sakura and Naruto continued to bicker on the way home, waking Minori up in the middle of their quarrel, not that Minori was complaining because Naruto and Sakura felt like family to him even though he just met them that day. Naruto would be the rebellious brother and Sakura would be the responsible sister. Minori could imagine it.

But, Minori wouldn't share that with them, especially when they were trying their best not to gauge each others' eyes out.

_Also, they weren't a family_.

* * *

"Who's the kid?" Sasuke pointed with a fork when all four of them were seated at the table after seeing Minori for the first time who was seating next to Naruto.

"That's your child," Sakura joked when she arrived on the table with a bowl of salad. It was Tuesday and she and Sasuke promised each other to eat salads at least every Tuesday.

Sasuke glared at Sakura before she laughed.

"_Fine, fine!_" Sakura leaned near to Sasuke as he planted a kiss on her cheek and she continued to run back to the kitchen and grab the spaghetti.

"_Not _in front of the kids!" Naruto covered Minori's eyes, referring to Sasuke's and Sakura's little moment a while ago.

"If you want explicit, I can describe explicit," Sasuke sneaked in a smirk during his statement, causing Naruto to cover Minori's ears instead.

"OI TEME! Hey, don't listen to this uncle here! He's insane," Naruto pointed at Sasuke, "He's _really_ insane."

"_Uncle_?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes,looking as if he would grab a chainsaw and slash Naruto by the neck, "Do I look old to you?"

"See? He's insane! That's why these two are together. They match in levels of craziness," Naruto was referring to Sakura and Sasuke.

Minori could only giggle.

"Don't make me kick you out," Sakura came over the table, having everything ready and sat next to Sasuke, "And finish all of these, I don't want leftovers."

The four of them began to eat, with Minori head first, slurping onto the spaghetti happily. His face showed the happiness he was feeling as he gobbled down and chewed.

"The kid has got some appetite," Naruto stared at Minori, amazed, before he joined in with the boy.

"Manners, both of you," Sakura nagged.

"Yes, _mother_," Naruto and Minori replied sarcastically in sync, earning a small smile from Sakura and Sasuke.

"Are you sure they're not related?" Sasuke whispered to Sakura's ear.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

* * *

The next morning, Naruto was awakened by loud crashes and shouting. He wasn't surprised since it was Sasuke and Sakura that were living next door to him.

Naruto looked around his room for his glasses before he walked out of his room. He was greeted by Minori carrying a pillow with him as he wiped his eyes and yawned. They were both awakened by the same thing.

"Don't worry, they're always like that," Naruto patted Minori on his head, "What do you want for breakfast?"

"Eggs! And bacon!" Minori grinned before he ran off to the bathroom to wash his face.

_Cute kid._

"Hinata-san is on the way here," Naruto called out to Minori when he heard the water running, "She's going to tour you around the city."

"_Really?!_" Naruto heard Minori's excited voice, "I can't wait!"

Naruto adjusted his glasses before he went for the refrigerator to grab a few eggs and a packet of bacon then, he placed it on a new set of plates. He walked over to another cupboard to retrieve a pan before he set the fire.

"_Naruto nii-san!_"

Naruto ceased his work when he heard that.

_"Nii-san". Minori said "Nii-san"_.

"Are you coming with us?" Minori sat on the dinner table and swung his legs happily.

"Should I?" Naruto smiled to himself and stared at the pan before him through his glasses.

"Yes, you should!" Minori went over to Naruto to give him a smile before the little boy grabbed dishes and utensils to prepare the table.

And Naruto didn't have to give instructions...

"ALRIGHT, SET!" Naruto grinned before he grabbed his phone and made a phone call to his boss' secretary to have him take leave. After having "persuaded" the secretary, Naruto gave a grin to Minori, signaling the boy that he will be spending his time with him.

Naruto was about to place the eggs on the pan when he heard the door bell rang. Minori ran over and answered to door, only to be greeted by someone familiar.

Minori grinned and tugged Hinata towards the house and made her sat next to him.

"Naruto nii-san is making breakfast!" Minori announced.

"Hello Naruto-kun," Hinata greeted happily. Naruto heard it and leaned his head to the side, giving a slight nod in her direction to acknowledge her presence.

Minori continued to be excited and swing his legs back and forth while Hinata played with her fingers, not knowing what to say. It was weird enough of how they met and it was weird enough that a few days later, she was visiting his home. Seeing the blonde in front of her with slacks, glasses on and his hair pointing in all different directions, she thought that it was a different look from what she saw of him the day before. This morning, he looked simply non-energetic and simply laid back. Was he not a morning person because he didn't even seem to wash his face...

_Not that she was complaining._

She was more than happy when she was given his number solely by him but that also confused her. Didn't she just meet him?

She ran a finger over her hair, trying to keep busy.

Naruto motioned his hand to ask her to come over to the kitchen to help him. Hinata could feel her face red. What strange things will happen now?

She swallowed and tried to muster up her courage before she ran off to the kitchen.

"Could you help me cook?" Naruto whispered.

"_Huh_?"

Naruto stared down onto the wooden floor before he whispered, "I'm not much of a cook."

Hinata glanced at him in awe before she began to giggle. The two males in the household stared right up at her, wondering what was so funny and the fact that Naruto was being serious, he felt embarrassed. She continued to laugh crudely at that and wiped away a tear forming on her eyes. She smiled at Naruto with a nod before she took the pan away from Naruto's hand and settled it onto the stove. She placed a few tablespoons of oil into the pan before waiting for the oil to be heated, then she made her way to the counter to retrieve the eggs.

Before she cracked them open, Hinata glanced at Naruto who was watching her on her side.

"I thought you'd be a great cook," Hinata giggled. She thought that a man living off on his own apartment would be able to cook meals for himself at least.

"Yeah," Naruto leaned onto the kitchen counter beside her, "If I wasn't eating from ramen cups all the time."

Hinata angled her head. What did he say? Did he just say that he was only eating ramen cups? All of his life? Wouldn't he be tired of it soon?

As if reading her mind, Naruto grinned towards her direction before he knocked her head lightly with his fist -not that he was abusive like Sakura but, after living next door to them, Naruto had the habit too, and explained that he was usually eating at Sakura's place.

Hinata began to giggle again before she used a spatula and got the eggs ready onto a plate. Naruto wanted to feel rather more useful by getting the bacon from the counter he settled a while ago for her and placed it on the pan.

"I didn't know you were so close to Sakura-san," Hinata thought openly. She didn't think she would find a person from a bar to be Sakura's friend either because Sakura seemed like a person who wouldn't associate with such people. She laughed a little at that conclusion.

"We attended the same high school," Naruto gave a faint smile. He didn't want to elaborate the whole part of how they met. It was rather embarrassing. He could have planted a face palm then and there.

_How he met Sakura_? Well, let's just say Naruto had a crush on the quite soft spoken girl with the pink hair who went to library every day like Ino went to the mall. And when he decided to confess to her, Naruto went out of his way and found her at the canteen, declaring his love to her in front of the whole school. He didn't think his showiness would make her leave in an instant at that time. But, the more Naruto thought back about what had happened on the first year of High school, Naruto felt like he wanted to die.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata stared at the blonde who grew mysteriously quiet. Did she say something wrong?

Naruto snapped back and grinned widely towards her before he dashed off to accompany Minori who was watching television from the dinner table. If it was high school they were going to have a conversation about, Naruto would rather avoid it.

Of course, being a social worker had its perks and Hinata understood Naruto's behavior completely. She wouldn't pry in further and why would she? She just met him and what more, they met with a kiss.

_What a memory…_

Hinata blushed at the thought of Naruto's lips on hers again, feeling the heat rush to her cheeks.

If it was one thing she didn't want to talk about, it was that night.

* * *

"Hinata nee-san," Minori asked without looking to her eyes, "What if I never actually had parents?"

Hinata blinked. She knew how to answer him but, would Minori accept it? She glanced at Naruto who was doing the same. He had a different approach then. He ruffled the boy's hair before he began to speak.

"Y'know kid, I never had parents," Naruto gave a smile at the little boy who was tossing the bacon on his plate.

"Huh," Hinata and Minori breathed out the word bluntly.

"Honestly, I never seen their faces," Naruto smiled, not that it was genuine at all.

Minori stood up and walked off without a word and ran to the bathroom. Hinata stared at the door that Minori had shut behind him. Was it alright to leave him that way?

"Did I say something?" Naruto blinked and gave Hinata a puzzled expression.

"No..." Hinata tilted her head a little to a side, "Minori just thinks that he was the only one feeling that way."

"What happened with him anyway?" Naruto poked his bacon before he gulped it down.

Hinata contemplated on the best words to say before she finally gave up holding the story back from him.

"Minori-kun thinks that his parents didn't want him and dumped him at the orphanage to rot. After his birth parents were hurt in an accident, the country was looking for their rumored son. Either one party wanted a heir to his parents' company or while another wanted to kill him off."

Hinata traced the table with her finger tips, not knowing what else to say.

"So, Minori feels that he was a burden his parents," Naruto stared off at the window where a blue sparrow perched onto the window sill. They were alike, too alike for that matter. _Minori and Naruto..._

Naruto had always thought that his parents felt that he was a curse and left him without a word. The only thing he had from them was their infamous name and hidden inheritance. He never got to find his father's will even if he wanted to and he couldn't find any remains for him to seek. Naruto always have thought that he was a cursed son. Left with nothing but being engulfed in loneliness.

"But no matter what Minori has faced or facing, I want to be there for him. I want Minori to get what a talented boy like him deserves, " Hinata smiled to herself when she shared that because she had liked Minori dearly that she didn't want to leave alone. All she ever wanted was for him to get a family that truly cared for him and if possible, she would take Minori in as her own. Hinata stared at the same blue sparrow that Naruto was staring. However, Naruto wasn't staring at the blue bird anymore.

His deep blue eyes stared at Hinata's figure. A beautiful woman in front of him with a dreamy smile and her hair flopped down to her side. She didn't take advantage of her features at all and was dressed plainly as usual but Naruto thought that was what made her beautiful in the first place.

"You're rather pretty," Naruto gave her a smile before he walked away from the table and tried to get Minori back.

In complete awe, Hinata flustered around in her seat, feeling faint and rather dizzy. Nobody told her she was pretty before. Nobody did.

And with that thought kept running through her head, Hinata collapsed onto the table with a loud thump.

**"EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, HINATA?!"**


	4. Interactions

**A/N: I've updated Avarice though! Finally overcame that writer's block ! And yes, here is the awaited chapter! Be warned, there's tons of NaruHina_ interactions_ here. And Minori is so _adorbs._ And take note that Minori's words are what my six year-old nephew is likely to say so yes, Minori is inspired by my little nephew. **

**Do enjoy this chapter! And thank you for reading all this while. It will update soon! I promise :)**

* * *

**Interactions**

"She'll be fine, just a little rush. That's all."

Lifting a hand from Hinata's forehead, Sakura finally stood up from her kneeling position and kept an expressionless face. Hinata was already awake and she tried to reassure both Naruto and Minori that she was fine, making excuses that it was the scorching weather. Of course, Sakura knew it wasn't because of that but she'll _never_ voice that out after having a moody morning already.

Hinata was laid out on the couch; her fringe was pushed away to the side, revealing her forehead. Her eyes were half-closed but she could identify that Naruto and Sakura was next to her. Hinata was about to get up when Naruto gently pushed her back down, telling her to rest for a bit.

"W-where's Minori?" Hinata asked quickly, only to be responded by Minori himself, hugging a pillow tightly.

"I thought you died," Minori stated bluntly. Hinata made a slight smile when she heard that, trying to compose herself that Minori was worried about her.

They heard a loud buzzing until Sakura pressed a button on her phone, before tapping furiously on the keypad. The thing about Blackberry was that both Naruto and Hinata could listen to how quick Sakura was tapping onto her phone's keypad. If Sakura was truly mad, it was clearly displayed by the way she replied a message. Naruto had to butt in though.

"Are you _text-fighting _with Teme again?" Naruto leaned in to peek at Sakura's phone after recalling such events of his friends fighting through texting for 2 weeks. Sakura swiped her phone away to her purse before strutting towards the door.

"I'll be taking my leave," Sakura left the room without greeting "good-bye" and slammed Naruto's front door behind her. If it was because of the argument with Sasuke in the morning, Sakura wouldn't say.

"She looks scary," Minori clutched onto the pillow.

Naruto ruffled the boy's dark hair with his fingers, "I told you that they were both crazy."

Minori giggled before he left the room and ran back to the dinner table to finish the rest of his breakfast. Naruto, on the other hand, didn't move an inch. He gazed as Hinata's eyes full of uncertainty and stillness. She was thinking to herself, as if the people around her weren't there.

"Hinata," Naruto called just so he'd try to snap her back to reality and get her attention on him. He had to get used to this. He had to get used to female companion —which Sakura doesn't count, by now.

Hinata blinked her eyes before she glanced at Naruto, trying to reassure her with a smile and enduring herself from thinking back of what he just said to her. Hinata tried not to touch on the subject of remembering the fact that Naruto did just describe her as "pretty".

And she ever so failed that a deep shade of red was shown on her cheeks.

Hinata could feel it once again and flustered to keep her face hidden with a pillow. She threw another one at Naruto just to get his eyes away from her. She squinted her eyes shut, trying not to think how Naruto's face would look like.

Naruto could only snicker at her reaction. After seeing her face red and faint on the table after he complimented her, Naruto had already connected the dots. Of course he wasn't that stupid. He laughed a little before he made a genuine smile.

_Too bad Hinata wasn't able to see it._

"So, Hinata wasn't complimented about how _pretty_ she is that often...?" Naruto laid back on the sofa, staring up the ceiling fan swirling over their head. He spotted how dust had collected on the lamps built in with the fan and ought to clean up his apartment a little before he took a breath to get his mind back to the subject in front of him.

He sat back up, peeking at Minori whose back was facing him. The bright green dinosaur imprinted on his back gave Naruto a sly idea. Taking a small glance at Hinata who was lying restlessly on the armchair and a pillow covering her face, Naruto decided to ease the situation a little with something up his sleeve.

He quietly sneaked up next to Hinata's face that still had a pillow on her face, squished with her hands. Naruto tugged onto her smooth straight hair before Hinata took the pillow away from her face, only to be greeted with a shock of her life.

"_GRAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWH_!" Naruto yelled with his hands over his head, trying hard to be a dinosaur or some sort and surprised Minori on the table too, making him drop the butter knife off the table. Hinata would giggle to a point that she would make a strange sound with her nose, making Naruto join in the laughter with her.

"What kind of _sound_ was that?" Hinata tried to ask in between laughter, referring to Naruto's attempt of scaring people.

"I should ask you that!" Naruto pointed at her nose before he flung himself back laughing and hit his head on the coffee table behind.

It hurt, of course, but the both of them kept laughing to a point that tears were forming up their eyes.

"I don't think that pink woman and the scary uncle are the only ones crazy," Minori muttered under his breath as he observed the two "_adults_" laughing hysterically at the living room. He looked away to get back to chomping on his bacon but it was halted for a moment when Naruto and Hinata came up to him to give him a tickle.

There wasn't a reason or any occasion as to why Hinata and Naruto did such a thing. They just nodded at each other and pounced on Minori, who was giggling and asking them to stop.

The whole morning turned out that way until Minori asked if he could get more bacon. Well, you had to give it to Minori, since, Hinata was a great cook.

"I can't think of where to start," Naruto gulped down a glass of orange juice as he eyed on Minori, recalling the fact that they were going to spend a whole day together.

"You can't think of what?" Minori stared up at him, chomping into another bite of bacon. Hinata looked at the blonde in front of her, wondering the same thing.

"I can't think of a good place to start for Minori's tour around the city..." Naruto poured another glass of juice from the carton until it was empty. He had to take a mental note that he had to buy another one from the convenience store again. Hinata stood up from her chair and picked the empty dishes from Naruto's and hers. Naruto would tell her that it was fine but she would help out anyway.

Once she placed them on the sink, Hinata twirled around and gave a smile at the two boys who were either chewing the bits of bacon or circling his finger on the wooden table.

"Why don't we go visit the town fair today?" Hinata smiled. Of course there was a fair set up in town. It came by with the circus that had their tour around the country.

Naruto stood up with a grin up on his face.

"Good idea!"

Minori simply nodded, not caring about the plans Hinata and Naruto were exchanging about for the day. Minori just placed his attention on his bacon.

He had one last bite left.

"Time to savor it and chew slowly," Minori uttered under his childish voice.

* * *

Minori hang from both Naruto's and Hinata's hands, swinging back and forth like a swing as they strolled down the road to the carnival up ahead. Minori would laugh and point at things around him. He would hear the occasional booms of the jet planes across the sky, helicopters that breezed by and brought the strong wind with them, and the tall skyscrapers that made Minori's blue eyes go wide. Despite the afternoon sun towering over them, the three of them didn't mind the blistering heat. They simply had a smile on their faces. He would be curious over them repeatedly and ask what exactly were they but Naruto and Hinata never failed to get tired of it. Actually, they were happy to listen to Minori's idea of what the helicopter was.

"A spinning car...?" Was what Minori would say and Naruto and Hinata would tell them he had a close guess before telling him what exactly it was.

"Oh dear, what a young couple," an elderly lady covered her crooked hands as she smiled.

"No-! Um... It's not like that, baa-chan!" Naruto let go of Minori's hand, only to wave his hands around and tried to explain how she had it all wrong. He motioned his hands around.

Hinata could only nod in agreement to what Naruto was saying. I mean...

_They just met._

They finally arrived down the large area covered with carnival rides, tents, booths and a large crowd of people. It was surprising that Minori grew quiet on the way there.

"Minori?" Hinata stared down in concern over the little boy, clutching onto his hands tightly.

But he'd answer with a shake on his head. Hinata smiled as she realized how excited the little boy had gotten after seeing the rides around him. Minori tugged onto her and a sparkle ran over his eyes when he said he wanted to try on a ride.

_What ride did he say...? _What ride did he just say that he wanted to be on?

"Roller coaster?!" Hinata stared at him with wide eyes.

"Yeah! It looks cool! I want to be on it!" Minori stared to the ride in a distance. His smile was visible on his face and he followed the cart that looped round and round into the air. The shrieks kept piercing into Hinata's ear, making her feel a little more distressed and _nauseous..._

"Hinata?" Naruto glimpsed at her for an approval with a grin until it faded from his face after seeing hers.

"Huh? Umm... Er... You can go on ahead with Minori," Hinata made a small smile; "I'll stay down here. I have a... Erm... a call to attend to."

It was obvious that Hinata couldn't make up a lie but she did anyway.

Naruto just nodded and got onto the line to wait with Minori. He didn't ask why after seeing through that lie but Naruto simply let it fall. He didn't have the guts to ask. He didn't have the position to ask and left wondering about instead. I mean...

_Didn't they just meet...?_

But that fact hurts a little more each time they were reminded.

"Naruto nii-san," Minori tugged onto Naruto's checkered Capri, "Is Hinata-san going to be alright? She's going to be alone."

Naruto looked down at Minori who was staring right up at him with the bright blue eyes. Maybe the kid didn't want to be alone but, he didn't want anyone to be alone either. Naruto completely understood that. After seeing anyone else in his middle school alone during recess, Naruto was the one who would talk them. Maybe people would call him friendly ( and weird ) then but, it was because he didn't want to see anyone lonely at all.

And maybe, he'll do the same with Hinata.

"Why? Do you want to cancel this ride?" Naruto heard himself ask. It was one thing that Hinata was sitting by the willow tree and watching the crowd pass by her but it was another thing for Minori to miss an experience. But Naruto had to rely on Minori's answer.

"I like the roller coaster," Minori fumbled with his dinosaur shirt, "But, I really like Hinata-san."

_It was simple as that._

He grabbed Minori by the hand and in a booming voice, he yelled at people to "Get out of the way", "King coming through", "Major person walking here" and everything else just so the crowd of people that were queuing for the ride would move aside. Obviously, people had heard of Naruto's shouting as he continued to cross through the sea of people with Minori on hand. They would mutter and complain how indecent he was but Naruto didn't care. The grin on his face never disappeared.

"How does the merry-go-round sound, Minori?" Naruto took a short look behind him at where Minori was before he continued to walk past the crowd of people who were giving him annoyed looks to a point that Naruto grew irritated as well, "What? Can't a person walk wherever he wants?"

Naruto made the people around look at him in dismay and in astonishment. _Speechless_, in fact. But Naruto kept going until the both of them reached Hinata who had the same expression as the crowd not too long ago.

"Weren't you just about to–?" Hinata shot herself up from her comfortable seat on the grass.

Naruto ruffled Minori's dark hair before he shot his eyes back at Hinata with a proud grin, "This kid didn't want to leave you alone."

Hinata blinked her eyes twice, trying to think that this was just a good dream. Never in a million years had that she heard that from a little child, or Minori. Minori never said such things or confess about such personal things from his heart. What happened when Hinata left the car last night after having driven home?

"Thank you," Hinata offered a smile.

Minori quickly averted his face away from them before he demanded to go to the next ride, "When are we going? Let's go!"

"Alright, alright! You don't have to yell," Naruto scooped Minori and carried him over his shoulders. That way,Minori got a better view of the whole carnival itself. After each ride, Minori sat on Naruto's shoulders. He would point at the cotton-candy stand, then the popcorn and then the Ferris wheel after. You could tell how excited he was when he kept on talking and talking. The two adults, however, were silent, trying their best to feel comfortable in their walk together.

The sun was already setting, and bright blue cloudless sky was replaced by a magnificent mix of orange, pink and purple. In a distance, the three of them were able to see the docks and the ocean ahead of them seemed like it was painted into a dark black, contrasting the bright yellow of the setting sun. Everyone else around them eyed the scenery too. The lamp shades around them quickly lit up right on time like it did each day.

_6 o' clock of the __evening_, it would tell them.

As much as Naruto attempted on moving on and forgetting over what happened earlier, he wanted to bring it up. He couldn't stop thinking that Hinata lied about something to him and he had to let it go just like that. He just couldn't. Even if they just met and his head kept telling him that he shouldn't pry on other's businesses, Naruto was curious. Not only was he curious, he was also concerned.

"Don't you think you could lie a little better?" Naruto made a reassuring smile until his expression changed when he quickly held onto the Minori's legs tighter when he almost fell off his back. Hinata made a short giggle before it became faint and there was silence again.

"Naruto nii-san," Minori scratched Naruto's messy blonde hair to gain his attention and pointed at the crowd ahead, "The circus is right there! It'll start soon!"

"Oh! Minori wants to see the circus, huh?" Naruto angled his head above him, only to be greeted by Minori's finger poking his nose. Naruto quickly turned away and stare back at Hinata who had a plastered smile. He just wanted to know but it seemed like Hinata wouldn't tell him.

_Maybe it was wrong for him to bring it up_.

They strolled towards the large tent, hearing the audible circus music playing. The music grew louder and louder with each step they took, and Minori could see the sight of Elephants and zebras in colorful and vibrant costumes moving near and around the tent. He grinned brightly.

In contrast to Minori, Naruto and Hinata just wanted to find the right words to say each other. Hinata knew how much it bothered Naruto about that little lie she made even though she didn't think it was necessary while Naruto was dying to tell her that she should just let it go and forget that it happened, after being embarrassed that Hinata didn't answer him. But it was so difficult since considering the fact that they just met and the way they met made things much more difficult.

"Um…" Naruto heard her speak in a faint whisper, "I'm just afraid of roller coasters."

Naruto stared at Hinata's composure. Her hands were held tight and she slumped forward. She bit on her lip, as if she could get her words to return. But, Naruto wouldn't let her regret her little confession. He just wanted to make things better, the atmosphere lighter.

"Figures," Naruto smiled at her, "Good thing I didn't force you to come with us."

"You both didn't get on the ride at all," Hinata creased an eyebrow as she giggled. The laugh that Naruto had been waiting for and the smile on her face to make him feel relieved. Of course she was thankful that he was worried.

They finally arrived by the entrance of the circus tent, greeted by another abundant amount of people and a bunch of clowns ushering them in with a large smile painted onto their mouths. Minori laughed at their painted faces and their bright red perky noses as they walked in. After finding a good spot to sit –they were at the middle with a great view of the vast ring and got one of the front rows' seats; Naruto brought Minori down to the ground and made him sit. Naruto swung his arms and stretched his shoulder, feeling sore. Naruto felt like an old man! Minori, on the other hand, swung his legs on his chair again, feeling rather excited as always.

Naruto leaned over to Hinata, almost touching her long straight hair when he tried his best to speak over the loud circus music, "Sakura asked if you wanted to join for dinner later."

It was more of a proposal than a statement and Hinata knew what to reply. She gave him a light nod and waited for the big show to start. Naruto eyed her for a moment before he directed his eyes back on the circus ring, waiting for the ringmaster to introduce himself.

Throughout the whole show, Naruto would steal glances at the girl beside him, laughing and hitting his arm out of habit. She had a cute laugh, _this girl_. And he wouldn't tell her that.

_Not yet, anyway._


	5. Antonym of Peace

**A/N: I've got to say, I didn't think I got so much support for this fanfiction so I gotta' thank you readers. Thank you! Anyways, remember Hisao-san from the orphanage? Better remember him for future references. Just saying ;) hahaha! Enjoy this chapter too and wait patiently for the chapters ahead! Thank you for following and reading!**

* * *

**Antonym of Peace**

"He must be tired," Hinata gazed at Minori who was using Naruto's blonde hair as a pillow and tugging onto the sleeves of Naruto's shirt strongly. He had such a peaceful expression on him and Hinata could only feel happy for that. Naruto, on the other hand, held tightly onto Minori since he was still giving him a piggyback ride until he slept up there instead. Naruto's shoulders were getting sore and his muscles were burning from Minori's weight but, Naruto was sacrificing himself for Minori's comfort. He took a glimpse at Minori from a shop window's reflection before his eyes shifted on Hinata's dazzling eyes again.

She was staring up at Minori with content in her face. She didn't come to realize Naruto was looking at her. All in all, Minori had his mouth open, saliva dripping onto Naruto's hair like a waterfall. She giggled before she asked the blonde to bend down a little and adjusted Minori to sleep more comfortably in his sleep.

"Do I feel_ liquid _on my ears?" Naruto's eyes fell wide, still staring at Hinata.

"That's Minori," Hinata laughed.

"Wait! What? Do you have a tissue or something?" Naruto panicked.

"It's just Minori, Naruto-kun!" She laughed crudely before they continued strolling down the pavements side by side.

The sun already set and the sky turned dark once they stepped out of the Circus tent. The crescent moon shone brightly in the sky while only a few stars were seen shining bright up in the vast sky. Since the city was so bright and lighted up, Naruto and Hinata didn't have much of a view of the stars.

"When I was five, I remember visiting my cousin's home at the other end of the country and see an abundant number of stars twinkling in the sky," Hinata smiled as she stared up high above her. Naruto did the same until he glimpsed back at her.

"It must be pretty," Naruto grinned before he focused back on the road they were walking, "It would be nice to see it one day."

Hinata nodded. She didn't say anything else because when she heard Naruto's reply, she felt that he didn't get the opportunity to live and see the world yet, considering his age. But he must have travelled a lot before he settled down in an apartment, _hadn't he_?

Her face depicted the thoughts she was thinking and Naruto just had to fill her in.

"I wanted to see the world, just that I was focusing on _different things_, never achieving what I really wanted," Naruto kept a smile, even though what he said sounded depressing as it is.

"What do you mean?"

Naruto kept his gaze on Hinata before he stared up in the sky. Minori shifted a little but he was still sleeping.

"When I was five, a pair of police officers came to my door and brought me to an orphanage," Naruto said the words without hesitance, as if he said it countless times to anyone who asked, which was actually wrong.

"I'm sorry," Hinata felt guilty for asking further. She shouldn't have asked when she knew what the things that would've lead to Naruto being that way. She felt stupid for feeling curious.

"Don't be," Naruto smiled towards her direction, "I was dying to tell you, anyway."

Hinata blinked in awe. He was _dying _to share with her about himself? Since when did a person you've just known a few days ago do that? But she didn't care. Hinata was dying to know about him too.

"Well, that's if you're interested..." Naruto teased before Hinata glared at him —her best attempt of a glare anyway. She earned a laugh from Naruto then and he continued.

"I spent a few days as an orphan before running away, thinking that everything about me being one was a lie. Good thing they didn't find me though because I ended up in the streets," Naruto filled up sarcasm in his last sentence. He laughed a little before he resumed again,

"I found a newspaper dated on a Tuesday and it said in the headlines, _"Town's Opposing Political Party Members found dead"_and had a picture along with my father on them," Naruto kept his smile throughout, making Hinata feel a tad worried. She held a hand over his arm as they continued to walk. Naruto would say it would be alright but Hinata kept her hand there.

"Some old pervert found me by the dumps and asked if I was lost. I just told him I needed a home. He took me in then when I saw him notice the newspaper I was holding and how I resembled one of the members."

"_What about your mother?_" Hinata wanted to ask but she kept herself silent, making Naruto continue.

"The old pervert was actually a writer and got me into school, thankfully. But I couldn't go anywhere without his permission, and he wouldn't let anyone say I was _that _political member's son."

Hinata held onto Naruto tightly. Beside her was one of the most important person's sons...? Why was he telling him this anyway? Did Sakura know this or was she the only...?

"Why are you crying?" Hinata found Naruto staring at her, and she was sniffing and rubbing her tears away.

"I... I didn't know you'd live such a life... _I shouldn't have_..." Hinata knew she shouldn't have dug deeper or start with the whole stars thing. Why did she even start with it? Why did she even let him start?

"I told you. I was_ dying _to tell you," Naruto leaned closer and angled his head a little, his eyes staring at hers. He wiped her tears with his thumb.

"_Me_?" Hinata blinked, causing a tear to drip down to her cheek, and Naruto wiped it away again. Naruto nodded. And it was strange how calm he was, compared to her.

"Well, you're one of the kind," Naruto walked ahead a little at the pavement before he turned around and smiled back at her, "Are you coming? I'm hungry!"

Hinata stared at him. She couldn't put a finger on it. She couldn't understand why he was still smiling and everything. She ran up next to him after wiping her tears.

"Do you miss them?"

Naruto's face fell when he heard that. A shadow went over his face and Hinata couldn't picture what expression he was making. She felt panicky and afraid that she said something wrong but Naruto finally answered her.

"_Not at all._"

* * *

On the way to Sakura and Sasuke's apartment, Hinata quickly switched the subject they were talking beforehand. She couldn't handle it anymore. She felt the hair on her arms stand after Naruto's answer for her question. She grew afraid and took a mental note to not talk about Naruto's childhood unless he needed to. It was a contract to her own self and it would probably do well for Naruto.

But her mind kept thinking that Naruto talking about it would make things better and it wouldn't have to be complicated.

However, she didn't take the courage to ask further and spoke about irrelevant things again, trying not to touch the subject about "THE PAST" or sorts.

When they finally knocked on the door, Hinata stared at the _"friend" _Naruto had claimed to be his companion at the bar, who had greeted them at the door. Hinata recognized him, of course. He had the same dark hair and dopey eyes like that day at the bar. She even recalled the fact that Naruto had pointed at him before she was kissed solely but Naruto then. It was this guy who made Naruto kissed her then!

She stared at the man with the dark hair and eyes who gave her the weird look. They both stared at each other before Sasuke shook his head.

"I thought you looked vaguely _familiar_..." Sasuke shook his head once more and held his forehead as if he had a splitting headache. Naruto overheard and quickly pulled Hinata into the apartment, getting her far away from Sasuke.

Minori was already awake, up and about at the sofa, keeping himself comfortable and at home. He was already flipping channels on the remote.

"No TV until after dinner," Minori heard Sakura nagged before she walked over and switched the television off. The screen blanked out and Minori grumbled and blurted out a tongue at Sakura before he followed Sakura and washed his hands with her.

They rested over the dinner table minutes later. Minori sat in between Naruto and Sasuke while Hinata and Sakura sat together. Naruto narrowed his eyes and made weird expressions towards Hinata's direction, acting his usual self and forgetting as if what happened earlier on the way up to Sakura and Sasuke's apartment didn't happen at all.

"_What?_" Hinata mouthed out the word instead of saying it.

Naruto's eyes kept darting towards Sasuke and Sakura who had their phones on the table, strangely silent until the familiar buzz of the phone would kick up. Sasuke would read his iPhone and stare at it for a moment, groan and roll his eyes before he tapped furiously like how Sakura did in the morning. They were like that and vise versa towards each other, not even staring at each other in the eye. They would end each text with a slam on the table and continue eating.

"No phones on the table," Naruto cooed until he was told off by the both of them.

"They're always like that," Naruto shook his head and frowned at Hinata who had the same expression, "Let's just eat."

Hinata nodded, said thanks to Sakura and took on her servings. Minori had already started gulping down his seconds already and Naruto had to laugh about his big appetite.

"So are you dating this friend here?" Sasuke asked Hinata as he referred to Naruto.

There was a still silence. Naruto and Hinata would have the same expression and wave off their hands above the table and say that he was thinking wrong and it wasn't like that.

"Well, someone's interested..." The three adults heard Sakura mutter as she ignored the looks from the three them. Sasuke was glaring at her then.

"I didn't say _I was interested_," Sasuke finally flung his hands over his head and forgetting about their text-fight. They finally grew verbal. Now, that was fast considering how Naruto was keeping track of their record of text-fighting for two weeks straight.

"Like hell you were," Sakura rolled her eyes and continued gulping down on the last bits of her food, "And do tell me how interested you were about _how I feel_."

Sarcasm was implied there. It was like a challenge spot on.

"Oh, so it's about how you feel again?" Sasuke tilt his head and slammed the marble table again. He was close to looking like a gangster if only he cracked his knuckles. His glare towards Sakura was intensifying. Naruto and Hinata nodded towards each others' direction before bringing Minori and his plate onto the living room and away from Sasuke and Sakura, getting him distracted with the TV.

"Are they always like this?" Hinata whispered to Naruto when they were sitting on the Indian carpet next to each other, watching Minori chew on his food and kept his eyes on SpongeBob annoying the heck out of SquidWard.

"This isn't half of it, really," Naruto sighed and said it rather flatly. He didn't want to listen to the two of them bickering and fell his eyes on the television too, "You should see how they were in High school."

They heard a plate smash followed by another. Hinata was the only one looked over at them in worry while Naruto had a bored expression and Minori kept a focused gaze on the TV. Good thing it wasn't a commercial yet. How wonderful are the attention-span of children.

"Your mother is coming over and you are talking about your feelings?" Hinata heard Sasuke's deep voice across the apartment.

"What is wrong with that?!" Sakura shouted before she shrieked and screamed out of stress. To think that the rather accomplished attorney Hinata knew was piercing her voice and throughout the whole place, depicting how stressed she really was.

They were like that for the next few back-to-back episodes of SpongeBob and Minori and Naruto still had the same expression. Hinata kept feeling worried until Naruto leaned in beside her and told her that it would be fine.

And just by a few minutes later, Hinata saw Sasuke stroke Sakura's long hair gently as she buried her face in tears on Sasuke's shoulder. Sakura's cries were muffled and Sasuke would ask her to settle and sooth her a little more. They finally sat quietly discussing about plans as they cleared the dinner table together.

"_Wow_," Hinata mouthed out. Naruto snickered when he stole a glance at Hinata's surprised face before he leaned over on her shoulder.

"They're like that, really," Naruto stared at the TV, not aware of Hinata's face blushing red, "It's tiring to keep up with them."

And Hinata looked at him for a moment or two. She finally understood Naruto a little. She finally understood why Naruto told her about himself yet he kept the same face. She understood why he didn't miss his father or his mother. She understood as to why he didn't show a change in emotion on his face.

_"It's tiring to keep up with them." _That's what Naruto said and it was a big key as to why Naruto was carrying such a emotionless face or place such a facade over himself.

"You've tried with all your might on everything once before, haven't you?" Hinata said it out loud before she realized what she said didn't have any relevance to Sasuke or Sakura. She didn't think she thought out loud. If Naruto realized what she said, she'd say she was saying nonsense and random words but she didn't make up an excuse when she saw Naruto's flustered expression.

She hit the dot. She was right. _Bullsye_. She hit the target. She finally got it connected even if she knew a little.

_But, _why did it feel_ so wrong? _Why did it feel that what she just said was_ wrong?_

Naruto stared at Hinata for what seemed like hours but only seconds. Hinata had a growing fear building up inside her throat. Naruto's blue eyes were wide and the way he looked at Hinata made her tempted to run and hide. When his lips finally parted to voice out his words, Hinata felt like the tears coming but she tried her best to endure.

"_Shut up_," he said.


	6. Complicated Support

**A/N: Sorry guys! I could only say that this chapter has no NARUHINA interaction. Bear with me! And don't hate me for the last chapter. haha! I feel so Kishi. yikes. I'm not going to kill anyone though, if you wanted to ask. I'm not Kishi! I'm sorry if this chapter was more Sakura/Sasuke based. I just had to add them in. But get ready for action, yeah? kekekeke.**

**Enjoy this chapter, nonetheless. I'll update you soon!**

* * *

**Complicated Support**

Two days have come and gone quickly and Hinata had brought Minori out to look at the rest of the city. He finally grew to know what a park was and how tall the buildings were. They went to every shop in town and they never missed a helicopter breeze by. Hinata would feel happy then and enjoy her time with Minori but she didn't have the same peace she had in her heart. She could say guilt was all that she ever felt.

She had spent the afternoons with Minori but this time, Naruto was not around to tag along. Whenever she fetched Minori from Naruto's apartment, Hinata would be greeted by his plastered smile before he would run off and say he was late for work. Hinata could only say to Minori that Naruto was busy. The boy was upset for a while but he got over it, understanding how busy the blonde was over work. It was good that Minori understood well but the fact that Hinata kept thinking way back to the time Naruto and her was last at Sasuke and Sakura's apartment...? She just felt so hurt; she didn't know where to begin.

"Hinata nee-chan?" Minori shook Hinata's hand, "I think your phone is ringing."

Hinata nodded with a smile, thankful that Minori snapped her back to her reality. She rummaged through her sling bag and picked up her phone, only to realize who it was. She felt her heart drop a little in disappointment, expecting it was Naruto calling to check on Minori. It wasn't since he was busy, wasn't he?

"Good morning, Sakura-San," Hinata had a fake smile over her face. She had this intuition that if she smiled, maybe she'll sound better over the phone. Hinata could only feel stupid at that.

"I need you to be in my office later. Is it alright for you to drop by today?" Hinata heard Sakura's exhausted yet rushed voice over the other line. Did something come up in the office?

"Sure, I'll be there later in the afternoon," Hinata tried to obliged herself, trying not to make more burdens for the tired attorney.

"I'll take note then," Hinata heard the ruffling of papers before she heard the rosette greet goodbye.

_What could have happened...?_

In addition to that, another layer of worries bundled over and Hinata felt herself clutch onto Minori's hand a little tighter.

"Hinata nee-chan, are you okay?" Minori looked over at her with his wide sky blue eyes and _there it was_. The way Minori had such deep blue ocean blue eyes. Hinata was reminded about Naruto because of that similarity. She bit her lip, not wanting to put a frown in front of Minori. The little child was already worried about her.

"I'm fine," Hinata tried her best to make the warmest smile she was able to comprehend, "There's this one place I wanted to show you."

Minori's eyes brightened up. He was excited again and began jumping on the spot. The hood from his sweater jumped with him.

Hinata gave him a small smile before they commenced their journey on foot. Besides, they weren't that far from where they were heading. The fact that it was close made Hinata feel a little more calmer than she usually was from the last two days. She had to keep herself in level that she was a responsible, collected and independent woman.

_She just had to..._

Hinata had to show that. And visiting that place once again would be able to trigger that, _hopefully_.

* * *

"Oh? Is this an abandoned building?" Minori's wide blue eyes scanned the interior of the third floor. He was running around freely and inspecting every inch of the room they were in with every ounce of curiosity a six year-old boy could handle.

"Yes, I sometimes come here to think," Hinata sat over one of the rubble. Nobody had bought the building or took it down since that accident she got involved four years ago. The government didn't even touch the plot of land and it remained to stand there along with the buildings next to it. If it served as a reminder that tragedies could happen at any time, Hinata wouldn't know. She was only twenty and followed Neji on one of his trips. She didn't think she'd make this place as her solitary sanctuary.

"This building was supposed to burn down in a fire," Hinata explained as she followed Minori around. She traced each wall with her fingers, remembering the flames burning around her not so long ago.

That was right. Hinata almost died if not for the flicker of bright light reflected over her side that time. It was because of that she found that laminated photo under the small bits of rubble. She hid below another concave of rubble once she found the photo. It was like a miracle. She was found in time and the building didn't collapse at all.

"Nee-chan, you're weird," Minori's voice echoed throughout the complex. Hinata could only give the boy a glare before Minori ran up to her and apologize.

"But you like this place, right, Hinata nee-chan?" Minori grinned from ear to ear towards her, earning a ruffle on his dark messy hair.

Hinata rummaged through her bag again, looking for her purse. When she finally found it, she pulled the laminated photo that had been folded and dog-eared throughout the years. Minori could only look at it by her side. The boy studied it evenly.

It was a lady with long ginger hair, a bright smile on her face and made a humorous squinted face towards the camera. The lady had a book on her hands as she made her face towards the camera. It was hard to explain, really.

"She looks like Naruto nii-san," Minori spoke out loud before he went off to doodle on the dirt with his hand. Hinata just stared at the photo a little while longer after hearing Minori's small little comment. She held a hand over her lips, a little taken aback over what Minori said.

She shook her head and stuffed the photo back.

_Yeah, it couldn't be_.

* * *

"The problem here is that we're left with only four more days," Sakura ran a hand over her hair, "And both of them are asking for more rather stupid conditions."

Hinata stared at her friend, flipping through the documents and staring on her desktop computer once in a while before she wrote with her pen on one of the sheets of paper. Hinata felt that she couldn't help other than take care of Minori. It seemed like Sakura was doing a far more complicated and useful job compared to her. She sighed before she turned her gaze towards Minori, drinking a cup of water from Sakura's pantry.

"All in all, it's all up to Minori," Hinata stared up at Sakura who was still writing in on her reports, "Maybe we should have him visit –"

"NO."

Sakura and Hinata's eyes darted towards Minori. The boy was simply sipping onto the cup of water, as if his loud refusal a while ago didn't happen at all. Minori sink in his seat after receiving a glare from Sakura.

"_Minori_," Sakura said in a warning voice, "We want the best for you so you have to cooperate."

Hinata nodded despite finding it hard to let go of Minori soon. She felt too attached to the little boy ever since they met. He was adorable even if he had mild mood swings here and there. For the past few days, Minori was happily sharing about things he wanted to do when he grew older. Minori pointed at the sky and said he wished to be a pilot when one of the helicopters or jet planes flew by. Sometimes, he would say things out of the blue like how he wanted to eat cotton candy again or how weird Sasuke or Sakura was. Minori was so precious and Hinata had never grown that attached with any other kid than Minori.

"But I don't like _Mrs Big-Hips_ and _Mr Wimpy_ or that other woman with the loud mouth," Sakura heard Minori referring to the two parties. She tried to suppress her laughter, leaving her eyes teary. Hinata, on the other hand, could only correct Minori and talk about manners but giggled only at the end after failing to suppress it either.

But once their laughter died down, the two ladies grew worried again. They were worried that Minori didn't want to be accepted by any other family who wanted him. If it was because Minori was scared that he might be abandoned as an orphan again or afraid of change, Hinata would've known better of what to do. However, the little boy didn't tell her anything about these things.

The two of them stared at each other, with the same expression. Sakura wanted to switch the subject but she could only be left to think about what she witnessed Naruto running off from her apartment rather quickly and leaving Hinata stunned the other day. She remembered well that she ran forward to Hinata while Sasuke chased after Naruto. She could hear the loud knocks on the door before Sasuke gave up. Sakura simply stared intensely at Hinata while Minori looked up at her with clueless eyes.

Sakura tapped her pen on her desk. What could've happened? What made things come up to _that point_?

"Naruto nii-san sure is busy," Sakura heard Minori thought out loud, as if on cue, but the fact that Minori said that…? Sakura grew worried for Hinata and Minori.

"He's _never_ busy," Sakura stared at the both of them, seeing their stunned expressions. Hinata would then hang her head low and shrug. Minori would only wonder a little about Naruto before his attention came across Sakura's pantry again, seeing the bar of chocolate sitting above the counter. Sakura had nodded when Minori asked.

There was an unbearable silence of Hinata realizing that Naruto was avoiding her… Sakura could only sigh before she looked up at Minori once again. Didn't the boy have to leave for tomorrow? He had to go back to the orphanage soon, _right_?

"Are you going to talk to Hisao-san later?" Sakura asked out loud, trying to block off the subject of Naruto in front of Hinata. She thought that she had to think of something. They had to make up or Hinata wouldn't be able to focus on her work. She made a smirk when she finally found an idea up in her head. Sakura laughed inwardly after realizing what it was like to be a match-maker.

"Why is that?" Hinata shot her head up.

"We need Minori to stay throughout the rest of the week. We hadn't come up to what has to be the best for him," Sakura tapped on her desk once again.

"Sakura-san," Hinata said in a concerned voice. Wasn't it the _late afternoon_ already? Why the sudden…?

"Hinata, you want the best for Minori, don't you?" Sakura made an excuse. She felt manipulative and prayed inwardly to a god to forgive her. When she heard a still silence from Hinata, she knew that her plan was ready to commence. _Silence meant consent_. She gave a reassuring smile to her friend before she had quickly text messaged Naruto, lying that she herself need a ride to Hisao's orphanage again. Yes, it was a lie but it was for good reasons.

Hinata and Naruto better thank her later.

"What about Minori?" Hinata asked.

Sakura grinned at that. Rather vaguely, Sakura waved her hand over as if it would cool off Hinata's growing concern and replied, "You know how it is! He'll be taken with good care."

Hinata nodded, thinking it was Naruto that Minori was going to stay with.

"I'll get a driver for you then call me if _things are going right_," Sakura went back to her bossy demeanor. Hinata agreed, not aware that Sakura already made up a plan for her and Naruto to get things patched up together by having Naruto drive her instead.

* * *

Minori lay on Sakura and Sasuke's bed, retrieving a piece of paper from his pocket. He flipped it open, only to see the familiar sight of dashes and dots all in one page. In each line, there were a number of them. Minori laughed when he thought it was aliens who wrote this in their own language before his eyes stared widely at the ceiling, fearful for the moment that there might be aliens watching him with their big pupil-less eyes and sticky green hands reaching for him. Minori's imagination ran wild before he noticed that he screamed out of fear.

Sasuke greeted Minori in the room with a slam on the door, seeing Minori shutting his eyes and tangling up his legs on the quilt covers. Sasuke sighed before he approached the boy in frustration. His expression was grim, after seeing the new mess the boy made. It was not long ago that Minori messed up the living room, now, Sasuke had to live with the fact that his side of the bed was in chaos before he slept. Sasuke just had to be a neat freak. He sat next to Minori by the edge of the bed, trying to suppress the anger he felt for the boy messing up the house. And the fact that everything Sasuke and Sakura do today have to be under the rating of Parental Guidance.

When Sasuke saw the slip of paper on Minori's hand, he grew curious and eyed it from top to bottom, forgetting about his anger towards the six year-old boy.

"What do you have there?" Sasuke asked. He knew he saw this type of code before. He felt rusty that he wasn't able to decode it. After all those years studying for the force, Sasuke failed and shook his head in embarrassment. He could identify it was a type of code. _What was it again?_

"It's alien language. I think they're ready to eat us!" Minori waved his hands in terror. His imagination was ready to run wild again.

Sakura stood by the doorway, witnessing the scene before her, a clueless Sasuke and an energetic Minori. Her mother should have seen this. Sakura giggled before she walked toward the other side of the bed, staring at the paper on Minori's hand.

"It's Morse code, isn't it?" Sasuke asked Sakura but she could only shrug. Minori on the other hand was forgetting about the paper he left on Sasuke's hand and was bouncing on the bed. He never had seen such a large bed before. Sakura would only hold Minori's hand and grinned with Minori, messing the bed once again which Sasuke had seem to pay less attention to than before.

He went over his desk, turned on the lamp and quickly got his rather thick books. Here was Sasuke, decoding codes again, like he used to.


	7. Decoding

**A/N: Hey guys! Surprised that I updated so quickly? kekeke. And I did tell you to remember Hisao-san for future references ... :P Stay tuned. This fanfic sure is beginning to get a little angsty and complicated. Bear with me, peeps! ;) And guys, I deleted Avarice. Reason is on my profile page. Sorry. Couldn't continue it anymore...**

**Well, enjoy this chapter! And yayy, we have Neji appear here! I miss the dude...**

P.s. Thank you for all your reviews and follows and favorites. Thank you for all the support for this fic. Love you guys. You're so nice. :))

* * *

**Decoding**

"Are you still working on that?" Sasuke found Sakura leaned next to him at his desk and placed her weight on his side. She already had tucked Minori in bed after humming to him a lullaby and had washed up long ago. Sakura tugged onto her bathrobe tightly before she gazed on the paper Sasuke was studying on, "Is that Minori's...?"

Sasuke nodded as he started typing continuously on the keyboard of his laptop, loud enough for Sakura to hear the keys clicking. The man grew busy again and Sakura giggled at that. She took a peek on his laptop, seeing Sasuke was typing on a document. She read it word for word and was astonished by the first line Sasuke had finished decoding.

"It's Morse code all along," Sasuke mumbled. After reviewing and flipping through a little of the pages of his books, Sasuke finally got the hang of translating Morse code again. He felt accomplished and arrogant in front of Sakura. He turned to face her bright green eyes, completely in awe to what he was doing.

"I think Minori would want to read this," Sasuke glanced at Sakura.

As he continued to type, Sakura leaned there next to him, amazed. After a few lines and switching his vision from paper to screen, Sasuke finally decoded Minori's piece of paper. They both took a short glimpse at the clock, finally realizing how late it was. He gave Sakura a quick nod before he walked towards the bathroom. When Sasuke went over to take a bath, Sakura glanced over at the Word document and the typed letters Sasuke had translated from Minori's paper. She read word for word again. She _couldn't_ believe it.

Minori didn't know that the _answer _was with him all along.

Sakura aimed her gaze at Minori who was sleeping soundly in the middle of their bed, tugging onto the quilt blanket with a peaceful expression on his face. Sakura sat comfortably on Sasuke's office chair before she spun around with it, staring at the ceiling. _Such stress…!_

If Minori gets a hold of this translation and realize what it held, he wouldn't want to accept any of the two parties at all. Minori would stubbornly look for his parents and go on forgetting about whether he was about to be adopted or not. She sighed a little before she stared at the bright screen again. She had to speak with Hinata about this or anyone for that matter. She didn't want to endure this stress and she just had to tell somebody. She didn't know whether Minori should be able to take hold of the letter since Sakura had to be held responsible about it.

When she heard the water stop from the bathroom, Sakura knew that Sasuke was done washing himself up. Once he slid the door open, Sakura spun the chair like how she normally greeted people in her office, earning a slight laugh from Sasuke. She held a straight face before she asked him to come over, explaining every detail of her source of stress to him. He would nod and understand but Sakura didn't feel at peace yet.

"Should we show this to Minori?" Sakura tapped her lips and was full of anxiety, "And how will Minori react? I really don't know."

Sasuke rubbed her back and they sat there for awhile, still staring up at the computer screen. Sakura was tempted to press the "X" on the top right of the screen, afraid that Minori will never accept any of the parties. But, she kept thinking that Minori would want to hear a bit from his parents. Her mind couldn't come up with a decision and the stress came up again.

She might _lose her job position _if this case goes wrong after having so many expectations settled upon her shoulders.

"Sakura, don't worry," Sasuke coughed, as if it was one of the hardest things for him to say. He didn't know how to help her, "Just get some rest."

Sakura could only nod and Sasuke had to tuck her in to bed. He placed the blanket over her and give a peck on her forehead.

"We have to show it to Minori," Sasuke told her, "He can't keep thinking it's alien language all along."

Sakura laughed a little before she felt the exhaustion weighing on her eyes. When she finally fell asleep, Sasuke went over to his computer and saved the Word document, twice and in different files, so that if Sakura wanted to delete it, Sasuke would've had a _spare,_ just in case.

* * *

The lights had gone shut one by one and Hinata was approached by an old man, telling her that it was already closing time. She glanced at her watch, forgetting that she still had to meet Hisao-san regarding Minori's stay to be extended. She felt that the rush of things were a little too much but she didn't want to bother Sakura more with any more problems. The fact that Minori still hasn't liked any of the parties grew worry for Sakura and Hinata. She acknowledged the old man for telling her about the time before she took one last look at her computer screen.

She had seen numerous newspaper articles from the archives and an abundant number of links on the search engine about that one accident yet, she still couldn't find about that woman. She let out a sigh before she finally gave up. Hinata closed all the windows before she found an article about her cousin Neji on the front of the page she was reading a while ago. Then her eyes struck open and recalled a small fragment of what had happened in that building.

_I was with Neji nii-san who was looking for an apartment with me to live in…_

She switched the computer off and rummaged through her bag again. Why didn't she think of it before? Why was she looking for the person in the picture when she could have gotten clues about it from the person who owns it…?

She got hold of her phone and began taking her exit from the building, taking the elevator. As she waited, she dialed onto her cousin's number. It took a few rings before he finally picked it up and greeted her.

"Why are you calling me out this late?" Neji asked. It was weird. Normally, he was the one calling Hinata and it was usually in the mornings.

"Remember when you came with me to look for an apartment?" Neji heard the rush in Hinata's voice, thinking that she was on an important matter again, "What was the name of the man before it–"

Neji had to cut her off. Here she goes again, talking about _that _building.

"Hinata, we can't talk about that. Don't you remember that you almost got into a serious injury from that?" Neji was scowling as he reprimanded her. Why was she _bringing it up_ again? Didn't it traumatize her? Didn't she suffer from burns? _Why is she…?_

"Please, Neji nii-san," Hinata pushed the subject further. She needed to know who the person in the picture was. She had this feeling to thank her and finding that man who owes that picture can lead her to that person, "What is the man's name?"

"I don't really remember, Hinata," Hinata heard Neji's hesitant voice, "I don't know if it was 'Jirou', 'Junichi' or whatever. I know it started with a _'J'_."

Hinata thanked him and ended her call even though she felt disappointed a little. She stepped into the lift after having waited long enough and when she finally arrived by the lobby, she went over the entrance of the building. The lights were still on and the old guard a little while ago greeted her goodbye.

"Black car… Sakura said to look for a _black Lexus_…" Hinata mumbled as she gazed her eyes left and right. When she heard an engine of a car come right in front of the building, Hinata finally felt relieved that it was the vehicle she was looking for.

When she clicked the door open and finally sat inside, she was greeted by the shock of her life. And like in sync, the driver and she mentioned each others' names at the same time.

"_Naruto –kun?_" She stared up at the blonde.

"_Hinata?_" Naruto returned the same wide expression at her.

"Sakura said… but… _you?_" They both said the same words together and pointed their fingers. When they finally concluded their little encounter was Sakura's plan all along, the both of them shook their heads and sighed at the expense of Sakura snooping around again. They could hear it already. Sakura would be asking for their thanks to her for helping them. They both shook their heads together again.

The blonde eyed her reaction and laughed. Hinata, on the other hand, giggled as well.

"Oh, you gotta' love that _'pinky'_," Naruto laughed again as he commenced his drive on the road.

"Yeah," Hinata agreed and giggled together with the blonde until the awkward silence came over them again. They both just had to remember about that night over at Sakura and Sasuke's apartment again. They didn't talk at all, even after reaching the highway.

Hinata would lie that she would want to listen to music and switch the radio on but it was all so that she could stop listening to the loudest silence she ever experienced. It was just an excuse so that she wouldn't have to hear how quiet they both gotten just because of what she said. It was just an excuse so that she wouldn't have to bear how painful it was to endure the whole trip to the orphanage in silence. She would love to hear him to talk to her again but, _the situation is rather…_

Hinata heaved a sigh.

They turned in to a familiar isolated road covered with trees and drove towards the front of the old rigid house. It still looked the same. But, it had longer weeds growing up the front staircase and each room was lighted up with one bulb. Hinata stared up at the house and was reminded back to the first time she met Minori. She smiled to herself when she was greeted by Hisao-san with Minori in hand who was giving her a scowl. Hisao-san would have asked to forgive Minori then. She remembered smiling at the boy, walking him up at the back of the orphanage, followed by the other children behind them. She was explaining about things and who wanted to adopt him. She recalled well Minori declining any of it.

She remembered how stubborn he was and how he always pushed away. And the only reason he opened up to her was when at the end of the day, Hinata told him that she was leaving. He actually hugged her and told Hinata to come back. Her smile finally relaxed and turned to a frown when she knew one day, she had to leave Minori in the hands of either of the two groups of parents. By then, she would really need to leave him to their care.

"_Hinata_," Hinata heard Naruto's voice. When she glanced at him, Naruto's eyes had gone wide and he tried to cough it away, "I'll wait here until you're done talking to the dude."

Naruto stared away and placed his gaze on the steering wheel. When he heard her acknowledge his decision and heard the door open then shut, the blonde finally tried to breathe properly. He relaxed his shoulders, not knowing when he ever had tensed them up. He peeked at her strolling up the steps in her signature floral dress. This time she wore a darker shade, compared to the cool colors he always seen her wear. When she finally walked inside and was blocked off of any sight of her because of the door, Naruto sighed.

Naruto beat the steering wheel.

"_I shouldn't have said that_," he muttered.

* * *

Hinata looked left and right, not seeing a sight of any child in the vicinity. She thought that it was already bed time and she felt that she came at the wrong time. It was _late_ already. Why did she have to come here, again? She had to remind herself that it was for Minori's sake. When she tried to look for Hisao-san at his own office, Hinata's eyebrows furrowed when _he wasn't there_. Where could he be? She quietly peeked over at each room, trying not to wake any of the sleeping children.

When she reached the end of the corridor and at the door where Minori had showed her where he slept, Hinata turned the knob and peeked inside. She heard loud thuds and found a mess all over the wooden floor. Hinata's eyes grew wider when she found the children who were staying in the same room as Minori glancing at her with _awestruck eyes_. She flung the door wide and found Hisao-san ransacking on _Minori's things_.

_Why was he looking over at Minori's things?_

When the old man finally felt her presence, Hinata found fear creeping up. The old man faced her and Hinata couldn't fully see his face. He was shadow-like. His old, frightening eyes watched Hinata's every move. Hinata tried to ease herself and think properly. All she knew was that her mind was telling her to _run_. Hinata took a step back and slowly, he followed her. In situations such as this, a smile would help her, _wouldn't it_? When she attempted her best of a smile, the old man grinned back. It was different this time. His smile reeked of wickedness, and something inside had told Hinata that he held many secrets. His cold eyes were almost gray, and kept watching her. Hinata finally made a run for it and rushed down the corridors and to the stairs inside the house. She fell at the last few steps of the staircase and the old man's shadow overcastted over her.

_What exactly was going on?_

Before she knew it, Hinata was dragged to the bottom of the house. She tried to struggle and call out to the children who were witnessing the scene for help but seeing the fear in their eyes, Hinata knew she was done for. _Were they always like this?_ It was no wonder Minori had that surprised face when Hisao-san had agreed to him having to leave the orphanage. It was no wonder that Minori didn't want to go back in the orphanage when asked. So many questions were hovering over Hinata's head.

She heard Hisao-san laughed at her attempts of struggling again. He had a hard grip on her wrist and she knew that she would soon see purple patches on it. When she was finally pushed towards a dark room, Hinata tried her best to run back to where Hisao-san was but he quickly slammed shut the door. Hinata heard the door lock and she kept hitting on the door.

"What's happening? Why are _you _doing this?" She yelled. She felt tears streaming down her eyes already. Is she going to be stuck here?

She heard an audible laughter on the other side of the door, realizing it was Hisao-san before he finally answered her question, "It's for money! _Money!_"

Laughter was evident. He continued laughing crudely and knocked the door with his fists, tormenting Hinata inside. She finally kneeled down on the cold tiled floor. Darkness overshadowed her and she felt the chill of the cold wind.

"You must know already why two parties are fighting over Minori," Hinata heard Hisao-san from the other side of the door before his voice boomed; "He's got an _inheritance!_ Big money! _Big money!_"

His voice finally grew silent when Hinata heard his footsteps go quieter as he strolled off and away from the basement door. Hinata crammed herself on the chilly tiled basement floor. She brought her knees towards herself, blaming herself for allowing this to happen as each second passed. Tears just kept flowing down her cheeks and she couldn't stop. She knew she had to think of a way out but guilt kept knocking down her door.

Her heart was in pain.

_It was such a sharp pain._


	8. Tangled

**A/N: How was the wait? Sorry! But here you go. It is shorter than the other chapters but do wait a little longer okay? Thank you for your kind patience and support. You guys are such darlings. :D**

**OH, AND I NOTICED THAT I TYPED "NII-SAN" for HINATA'S PART ALL ALONG. OMG. THANK YOU ANON FOR POINTING THAT OUT. It has been changed (even though you guys are just waiting for the updated chapters). **

**Thank you for the reviews and the help. Do tell me about anything wrong I typed. Thank you for helping me improve :))  
**  
**Do enjoy this chapter !**

* * *

**Tangled**

Naruto raked his creamy hair with his fingers, pushing his fringe towards the back. He peeked at the dimly lit house once again before the blonde placed his gaze back on the steering wheel.

What was taking her so long? What was taking _Hinata_ that long just to talk to an old man...?

By the thought of her name, Naruto felt the same rush of guilt back again. The way he treated her back then…? Of course, it was hard to face her again. The way she stared at him with glassy eyes when she came by his front door to fetch Minori the other day was already difficult as it was. The blonde wanted to get his words back but the past was the past. It was done. He couldn't do a thing to change it even if he made an effort.

He knew that all along _but Hinata..._

He pulled his denim sleeve up and glanced at his watch, taking note of the time the girl had been taking. It seemed like more than half an hour. How long was this girl going to talk to Hisao-san? Naruto decided to wait a little while more but he can't help but feel worried. He knit his eyebrows together and heaved a loud sigh. He switched the engine off and stepped out of the black car. He shivered when a cold wind breezed by before he jogged on the spot and rubbed his hands together simultaneously to keep himself warm. After a few minutes, he paced up and down, and waited a little more, thinking that maybe Hinata would come back to where he was and prove his gut feeling wrong.

However, he grew impatient and the way things were going slow, Naruto didn't feel quite at ease. Naruto glared up at the house in front of him, biting his lip. He remembered that he did say he wanted to get far away from this creepy-looking house not long ago but…

"Just gotta check on Hinata... _For the sake of checking_..." Naruto muttered to himself.

He rubbed his hands together, trying to make himself warm from the cool summer night. He ran up the stairs that creaked as he took each step and knocked on the front door, recalling the fact that he shouldn't have barged in like he did on that first day. He might get a kick on the shin from a kid again. _What a memory…_

It took a few more knocks on the front door before someone answered the door.

"Hisao-san!" Naruto waved hello and gave a sheepish smile before he snuggled his cold hands into his pocket. He knew he should have worn a thicker jacket tonight after hearing the weather broadcast on the radio this morning but stubborn as he was, he had to grab the denim jacket he bought the previous night.

"It's Naruto, isn't it?" Hisao clarified. The blonde nodded while Hisao had a puzzled expression remain on his face, "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Eh? I was here with Hinata," Naruto spoke gallantly. Hisao, then, realized that the girl didn't come alone. The old man tried to hide his surprise with a plastered smile and the blonde was still oblivious to the man's behavior and invited himself inside the house, trying to avoid the cold, "Didn't Hinata meet up with you already?"

Hisao had a slight glint up his eyes. He smirked to himself before Naruto turned back to face the old man. Hisao simply shook his head, attempting to seem perturbed himself. Naruto stared back at the man with a grin after grabbing a cookie from the cookie jar next to him. There were crumbs on the side of his mouth. Hisao was rather surprised from Naruto's reaction.

Shouldn't he be worried about the girl? The man was trying to imitate Naruto's worried face yet; he was eating cookies in front of him? _Youngsters these days are getting weird._

"I guess we have to look for her," Hisao suggested. The blonde gave the old man a nod before he ran up the stairs quickly, inching on every part of the house. His heavy steps could be heard on the wooden ceiling above Hisao. What seemed like fifteen minutes passed quickly and Hisao didn't move from his place. He didn't put in any effort to look for the girl, since; _of course_, he was the one who hid her. The old man perked his head up, wary of Naruto's loud footsteps coming down the staircase and moving towards him.

"I can't find her anywhere!" Naruto gave Hisao a worried look. Naruto swore that he saw the girl walk in here so, how can she completely disappear like that?

"I was looking around the first floor but I didn't see her," Hisao lied through his teeth. His plan was coming up to action already and he couldn't risk the blonde to grow suspicious of him. However, Naruto was giving him a weird look already.. Hisao glanced at Naruto before he asked nicely as he could, "We didn't check the basement, _did we_?"

Naruto blinked before he rushed towards Hisao, nudging him to where the basement was.

Where could Hinata be? What was going on?! How could Hinata just disappear _in this house_?

Hisao pointed to a door below the staircase and just in a matter of seconds, the blond came rushing towards the door that was different from the other wooden doors Naruto had opened. He gripped on the handle and turned in fervently before he noticed it was locked. The blonde motioned his hands to the old man impatiently, asking him to quicken up and unlock the door. Hisao followed Naruto to his side. When Hisao fumbled with the keys he had reached from his pocket, Naruto grew much more restless. He couldn't help but feel that Hinata was trouble. If she was really in there, why would _she be locked up_?

_Unless Hisao…_

The blonde was eyeing the old man's every action. Naruto felt that he couldn't trust this guy yet, he still couldn't put a finger to it. When the door finally unlocked, Naruto eyes glanced into the darkness and found Hinata turned to face him with her teary eyes by the end of the footsteps, shivering and wiping her face.

Naruto was about to retaliate at Hisao but it was far too late. Hisao kicked the blonde down and into the basement. He gave one last triumphant smirk before Naruto sprinted towards the door, only to be slammed with the heavy door itself in front of his face. Naruto was about to reach for the door knob but he heard the door click and Naruto knew he couldn't do anything.

"Damn it!" Naruto punched the massive door.

He should have known. _Why was he such an idiot...?_

He threw his fists at the door once again. Naruto didn't care if his hands were hurting. He even cussed. He finally flung his phone out from his pocket and was about to push in the dials when he heard Hinata speak in her weak voice.

"_It's no use..._" Naruto heard her sniff. He turned to her who was alone by the bottom of the stairs, sniffing and wiping her tears away. The still moonlight from the small window made her figure visible in the darkness. Hinata's back was facing towards him and all Naruto could read from that was how she was calling someone for help and how much she needed someone to comfort her right now.

He walked over by her side, ignoring the thoughts that screamed to him of how close he was. He just sat there by her side, not knowing what to say to make her any better. He could have seen it coming and saved Hinata. He could have seen through the senile man's plan but he wasn't able to make it in time.

Such an _idiot_ he was... _He was such an idiot…_

Naruto kept silent, blaming his actions inwardly. For all he knew, it was his entire fault from the beginning. Naruto's mind reminisced over the last time he and Hinata were at Sasuke and Sakura's apartment. The words he said that day felt alien to him. He wasn't supposed to act that way that day.

_"Shut up," he said. _Those were the_ two words _that made things turn out so bad_. _Those were the words _he couldn't take back. It was his all damn fault._

"I'm _sorry_," Naruto muttered. He was sorry for everything. He was sorry for putting a _burden_ on Hinata for telling her about his complicated past. He knew _he shouldn't have_. He was sorry for bringing her into such an _awkward situation_. He shouldn't have _made her feel bad._ He was sorry for _yelling_ in front of her. He was sorry for making her _worry_. He was sorry for so many things and Naruto was trying his best to keep himself from being teary in front of the girl. He was biting his lip that was almost ready to bleed.

For one thing he blamed himself more than the other reasons was _not being able to protect Hinata_.

Hinata shifted in her place, shivering from the growing cold around her. She noticed how silent the blonde grew and she risked herself to take one glance at him no matter how guilty she would feel after seeing him again. _She just had to look at him_. She couldn't _fight_ it.

Her eyes grew wide, seeing how much Naruto had such a painful expression on his face. He wasn't even able to hide it like he always did.

_Was he blaming himself because of her?_

She didn't contemplate on her actions and just reached her hand for his, entwining her dainty fingers and ignoring the fact that Naruto was staring at her in awe. He would have asked her about what she was doing but he didn't since he couldn't bring himself to. Realizing that her hand was icy cold, depicting of the time she spent in the darkness and shivering, he simply couldn't ask her feeling sorry as he was. He could have been there to stop her from suffering in the cold and waiting like this. He could have just stopped being a coward and followed her side-by-side from the car then. He just had to feel sorry for himself and stayed back in the car, watching her leave his side.

_He should have been there..._

Naruto could have stopped her from getting into this _mess_. _He could have protected her._

He was about to retreat his hand away from her grasp since he felt undeserving but she just had to surprise him again. Hinata didn't let his hand go and gripped onto his hands more tightly. She felt flustered for a while as to why she did that but she couldn't back away now. What more, she wanted him by her side. No, she needed him by her side. No matter how cold his hands had gotten, she tangled her fingers further. Hinata didn't care about frost bite or whatnot. Right now, she had to make Naruto feel that it wasn't his fault all along.

He might _pity_ himself about losses or other complicated things_. _He might have felt _sorry for himself_ for way too long and_ Hinata didn't want to add to that. _Naruto might have grown tired of the word, "sorry" and how he much he had been asking to be forgiven some way or another. She didn't want him to dig deeper into another pit of regret because of her.

She can't do that and _she won't_.

"_Thank you_," Naruto heard her speak. He didn't dare look at her since but, after she said _that_... Naruto gazed at her teary eyes and how it sparkled with the moonlight. She was smiling at him, even though he did so many things _wrong_.

_Why would she be so thankful for a guy like him...?_

"Thank you," Hinata repeated and she was holding her gaze at his bright blue eyes, "Thank you for _being here_."

Naruto's mouth was left agape. He didn't know what to say. His face didn't hide his mix of expressions running through his mind.

_You mean she rather have him here...?_

He averted his face away from her and turned back for after what seemed like hours but only minutes. He didn't let go of her grip on his hand and cleared the teardrops he had on his eyes with his shoulder. He then gave her a reassuring smile and the confident attitude he had always worn was back again.

"We have to get out of here," Naruto nodded at Hinata's direction. Hinata could only agree with him and returned his smile.

Naruto gripped harder onto her hand before he finally let go of it, exploring every corner of the basement and finding a way out.

* * *

**S/N: Have a blessed Chinese New Year to those celebrating CNY :) Give me some hong bao too lol jk And get ready for Valentines Day tomorrow too! If you don't have a date, it's okay. It's single awareness day then. Love you guys!**


	9. Terror By Night

**A/N: I'm just going to say that this story's plot will be so much complicated that I'm not sure if it'll be able to appeal to readers out there. I'll be developing the two's relationship soon. Don't worry ;) I'm worried if people will get to relate to the characters in the future chapters but I'll try my best though! **

**Thanks for reading so far! We've come a long way now, haven't we? :D**

**Do enjoy this chapter. IT IS A LITTLE LONGER THAN THE PREVIOUS ONE :)**

* * *

**Terror By Night**

Outside, the rain came down hard and the wind whipped sheets of water against the glass. The dark sky flashed bright with lightning, and thunder boomed, loud enough to shake the small window. From across the basement, Naruto saw Hinata flinch, her face a mask of surprise and terror. She was tugging on the denim jacket Naruto had given her, clasping on any type warmth she was given.

They were together for fifteen minutes at the bottom of the house and the weather turned for the worst in full swing. Naruto had been inspecting the small window for a while now. He was knocking his fist on the wall around it, thinking that it might be hollow and weak enough to be destroyed open but, he was proven wrong. For the next few minutes, the blonde was snooping around the darkness for a crowbar or anything to help them get out of the basement but the room was as empty as their stomachs.

Naruto finally gave up, and with sigh, retreated back to sitting next to Hinata on the steps and waited together in the cold. The fiery drive of wanting to get out of the basement dissipated and Naruto could only relieve Hinata out of her anxiety was by staying there with her. They were doomed to be stuck in there unless Hisao-San was kind enough to let them out –which would be _unlikely_ the case.

"I can't believe I brought Minori into this..." Naruto spoke out from his mind. When he breathed out, he could see his own breath because of the cold surrounding the two of them. Hinata reached for Naruto's hand again and gave him a reassuring squeeze. She didn't know how to make him feel better since, there seemed to be no way out and leave the chilly basement.

The clock was ticking and the cold was enveloping the two of them. They were shivering terribly and were ready to freeze. Hinata had been jogging on the same spot where she had always been while Naruto was running around the basement; just so they could keep themselves feel warm. When they decided to sit back down together for a rest, Hinata realized the ends of her long floral skirt were damped.

She averted her gaze towards the floor, and realized puddles of water, reflected by the moonlight, were forming around her and Naruto. Her sandals made a squishy sound as she moved her feet around, finding the source of the water. She glanced up to the ceiling above them but she didn't hear anything drip down. Naruto could only wonder what the girl was doing.

"Hinata?" he called out in an exhausted voice.

"Naruto-kun, please stay quiet," she tilt her head ever so slightly and she stayed still, trying to listen carefully for a sound of water dripping.

Naruto had finally noticed there was water flooding up in the basement when he lifted his foot up and heard a slosh of water, damping Naruto's shoes and jeans. He wandered his eyes in the dim darkness and listened carefully for any type of sound. The both of them stayed silent, ignoring the piercing cold enveloping them.

A few drops of water pelted over the surface of the basement floor and Naruto and Hinata darted their eyes towards where it came from. Naruto rushed over below the staircase and ran his hands all over the wall, seeking as to where the water had been flowing from.

"It feels like wood," Naruto commented loud enough for Hinata to hear –who was sitting still by the last few steps of the stairs quietly. Naruto reached over to touch the wall in front of him. His eyes grew wide and realized well what was in front of him. It was damped wood, ready to decay and be enshrouded of moss. A rush of adrenaline rushed over him and Naruto began to kick it open and cause Hinata to be startled with the racket. She had squinted and tried to adjust her vision into the thick blackness, finding a glimpse of Naruto. When she heard a loud crash, she was taken by surprise.

_What was Naruto doing?_

Over a few moments of unforgettable silence, Hinata grew uneasy and anxious. She gripped on Naruto's denim jacket over her shoulders. She called out to him again but she didn't hear an answer. Where was he...?

She gripped onto Naruto's jacket once more and shut her eyes after realizing how alone she was. Aware that she was alone again and surrounded by nothing but the dark, Hinata brought her knees to her chest again. She disliked not being able to see anything; she disliked being positioned around a place with little light. Hinata just had to have night blindness. She just had to be fragile right now. Hinata just had to be frail when it comes to facing her fear. She just had to have a phobia of one of the things that leveled her down.

Having to have phobia towards the dark and being blocked by any sight of Naruto, Hinata turned frozen in fear. She heard a number of loud thuds, knocks and creaks but she didn't want to open her eyes. It was a complete nightmare. She shivered terribly and she felt paranoid that something from the blackness was going to reach out to her. She was too afraid to move from her spot where the only bit of moonlight shone on her. She called out and mentioned Naruto's name in between tears again but she didn't hear an answer. She panicked and felt the goose bumps running over skin.

"Naruto, where are you?" Her voice was shaky as she was. And there she goes again, feeling weak on her knees. She wasn't able to do anything again. She got all paranoid and didn't seem to hear the footsteps that splashed that came closer towards her.

"I'm right here!" Naruto reached for her hand, and gave her an immediate embrace. He didn't think she grew horrifyingly frightened so quickly. She soothed her as he brought her closer to his chest, stroking her hair and telling her that he was right there. Naruto rested his chin on her hair, patting her back as she continued to cry and shiver. Thinking back to how she was acting and only staying to where the moonlight shone, Naruto noticed her fear.

_Hinata was afraid of the dark._

The thought kept running over his head, wondering how they were to get out of here with her fear. He gripped onto her hand and embraced her tightly before he let her go. He lifted her head so that she could face him and leveled himself to look at her eye-to-eye, giving her the same grin, "Don't worry; _I'm right here_."

He stayed with her for a little longer before she was asked to follow him. He told her not to feel afraid and pulled her towards the darkness and towards the bottom of the stairs. Hinata followed his pace and stayed by his side closely, not wanting to be grabbed into the darkness. She kept her eyes shut and hugged onto Naruto's bare arm as they walked further in. She didn't know where they were going. There was water reaching their ankles and drenching Hinata's skirt. The way she sees it, Naruto had found where the leak came from.

"Hinata, I'll let go of your hand for now, is that okay?" Hinata heard Naruto's tired voice that was panting by her side. She could feel his warm breath. He was about to retrieve his hand away from her grasp but she didn't let him. The blonde could only feel remorseful by watching her weak state.

"I have to break this door open," Naruto explained to her in a patient voice. They were one step away from freedom. Hisao must have not seen this coming. Naruto could hear the sporadic rain falling like bullets outside the door. It was locked however; Naruto saw the light of getting freedom from a weak and damped wooden door no matter how thick it was.

"Do you believe me?" Hinata heard Naruto's voice and she grew astounded by his sudden question.

He was asking her to trust him. Naruto was asking if _she believed him_ even though she might have to let his hand go.

She was already that afraid and she didn't know what to cling onto. The very thought of losing Naruto as she get left behind in the darkness scared her. To her, Naruto was the closest to refuge from her fear. To Hinata, Naruto was a bright light that drove away the darkness.

Naruto was the closest thing that made her fear shrivel up.

"Believe me, _Hinata_," Naruto nudged again.

She loosened her grip then and squinted her eyes harder, "I believe you, Naruto."

With a grin, Naruto began kicking on the wooden door. It was creaking and the rain outside seeped in because of the force Naruto was putting on. He threw his body towards the door again and again, not caring whether how his arms and shoulders were aching in pain. He continued to elbow and attempted on crashing the door open. He could hear loud snaps of wood breaking as he continued to strike his body at the door.

Hinata's declaration of believing in him kept running in his mind. It was an unnecessary thing he asked for but being overly dramatic as he was, Naruto just wanted to hear it from her. Naruto wanted to hear it directly that the girl believed in him. She was so _funny_, having to answer such insignificant things. She actually cared for such _insignificant_ details.

And yet, Hinata thanked him for being with _a person like him_...

He slipped in a grin before he made another blow at the door. And just like that, the door went tumbling down into pieces. Hinata finally blinked her eyes open, seeing large ray of light that was close to blinding her after being engulfed in darkness for so long. It was like seeing heaven opening its bright gates to her when the door finally broke down and gave a chance of escape. In front of them was a doorway out.

_They're free...! _

Naruto quickly grabbed Hinata's hand and pulled her out and into the wet weather, running as fast as they could under the rain. Naruto didn't care of the mess he made. The blonde wanted to get the hell out of there pronto. Noticing that they were running from the back of the house, they sprinted towards the front, not caring whether Hisao saw them or not. No matter what, the old man shouldn't be able to run as quickly as Naruto could.

They rushed for the black car parked in front the orphanage, took their seats quickly. It didn't matter to them if the seats were damped because of their drenched bodies. Naruto hurriedly switched the engine on with the key and made a snappy reverse back to the road. When they finally drove past the town and turned into the highway, they gave each other a glance.

Seeing how much of a mess they were after being caught in the rain, the both of them abruptly laughed together. They didn't know what to say after what they experienced inside that hell but after finally having escaped that place was a joyous miracle. To think that all hope was lost after being thrown in there...?

They were safe, _at last_.

* * *

"What time is it?" Naruto looked over at Hinata who was by his side, smiling to herself, before he focused his attention back on the road. She didn't notice how Naruto was trying his best to hold his grin back. She stared at her phone that had been drenched from the rain. It was a good thing it was still working.

"It's a quarter after one," she answered gallantly.

"That late already…?" Naruto felt surprised. How long were they inside that basement and trying to break through? It seemed impossible to him that they spent to about almost two hours cooped up in the cold.

"What do we do now? I didn't call Sakura about Minori's situation," Hinata felt worried again. It was as if her string of worries were never ending!

"Try to have a rest from work," Naruto nagged, "I have hot chocolate at home, that I am _definitely capable_ of making, so leave the work for the morning."

Hinata simply nodded and made a slight yawn. She was, after all, tired from all the rush of different emotions she felt in one day. She didn't expect to be this exhausted for being locked up. While thinking back, Hinata felt embarrassed for showing that side of herself towards Naruto. The way she flustered and gone all teary in front of him…? That was such a _raw_ feeling. She felt so raw in front of him that he was able to read her.

However, to think that Naruto stayed with her instead of leaving her side made Hinata flush. People around her would normally have been telling her off on how she shouldn't be weak. It was a good thing then that it was Naruto who was there, accepting how she was, instead of anyone else.

_Thank Kami that Naruto was there._

* * *

They settled by the couch, clothed in thicker clothes. Hinata had worn one of Naruto's thick patterned sweaters and a pair of tracksuit pants along with it. She didn't seem to care how huge they were on her as she happily sipped the hot beverage from her mug. She snuggled into the thick sweater and sat comfortably on his sofa, watching late night blockbuster movies.

Naruto tried to ignore the fact that Hinata was wearing his clothes when he was preparing his own mug of hot chocolate. He didn't think he would have to restrain himself from looking at her. Even though he knew how his clothes didn't fit her petite size, Naruto couldn't help feeling embarrassed at the thought of how she seemed cute to him. He tried to avert his gaze from her and on his own mug as much as he could but failed miserably. He made a mantra to himself of how Sakura was going to rip his eyes apart if Sakura was actually seeing how he was right now.

He was fighting with himself when Hinata distracted him from his own battle of thoughts.

"I don't want Minori to meet any of the two families anymore," she spoke aloud from her mind.

"How come…?" Naruto put his thoughts from earlier aside and placed his attention fully on Hinata, grabbing his mug and sitting next to her comfortably.

"Hisao said that Minori had an inheritance that could possibly be temptation for the two families to hold onto," Hinata stared down on the perfectly sofa before she turned her head towards Naruto who had the same pair of glasses she last saw him with. He looked different, aside from the damped hair. Hinata blushed and averted her eyes away from him. She tried not to dwell her mind on his different appearance and placed herself back to talking about the situation set back in front of them, acting _casual_ as she could, "And I don't seem to trust any of the parties now since they were really fighting for him. I didn't even think they were fighting because of Minori himself in the first place."

Her thoughts wandered off again when she spoke about Minori. What would happen with Minori? She was going to explain to Sakura about this but things would have to change drastically then.

"_Cancel them then_," Naruto simple offered his suggestion that Hinata had been contemplating over and placed his attention on the screen. He turned enthusiastic when he saw the movie he wanted to see was being aired on television. Hinata, then, decided to let go of the subject and place her eyes on the TV. She smiled to herself and thanked Naruto quietly in her heart.

She thanked him that it was the first time she didn't face the darkness alone _this time_.

* * *

**S/N: If you asked why I decided on giving Hinata a fear of the darkness...**

**Well, in the original series, she would've have the Byakugan so naturally, they would be very proud of their eyesight right? The point that they appreciate their vision so much, right? That's when my thoughts had progressed to giving this Hyuuga girl of this AU Story a fear.**

**I'm so mean but, I needed a weak point where Naruto could help Hinata with. Develop their relationship a bit :)  
So, in this story, I gave her a fear for not being able to see anything. Like fear of the dark.**

**And so, Hinata has a fear of the dark. Achluophobia, was it?**

**Inspired a little from my brother who's kinda' afraid of the dark. At night, he would switch all the lights on in the house just so he could go from the room to the kitchen. He used to ask me or my mom to follow him but now, he would sprint towards his room whenever he goes back to his room. HE HAS A NIGHTLIGHT.**  
**kekekeke. Brothers.**


	10. Beginning of Trouble

**A/N: How are you guys doing? It's been a while, hasn't it? It may look like I'm rushing things but no HAHA! It's just that the flow of events are just at the peak where there's so much trouble going on. Sorry that it looked like things are going hasty and there is no end to the trouble. **

**Hoped you liked that little NH moment and there is a_ flashback_ in this chapter. It's in _italics_.**

**HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS CHAPTER AND STAY PATIENT FOR THE CHAPTERS TO COME :) LOVE YA'LL.**

* * *

**Beginning of Trouble**

For what seemed like a hundred and one minutes of Naruto's televised viewing of his movie, he only realized halfway that his companion was leaning on his shoulder, sleeping soundly with her face snuggled onto his sleeves. Hinata had a contented look over her face. Naruto's eyes wandered over to her hands and gently picked the empty mug she had been holding, only to place it quietly on the coffee table beside the couch. It didn't matter whether the weight Hinata was putting on his shoulder was starting to ache.

When Naruto yawned, he thought it was cue to fall asleep too. He would have carried Hinata to the guest room where Minori had slept but he didn't want to bother waking her up. The blonde only adjusted the girl's head atop of his shoulder to make himself much more relaxed and careful that he wouldn't wake her, before he reached for the remote control with his foot, aiming to press a button to switch the television off.

Naruto yawned again when he tried to push her hair away from covering Hinata's face. He smiled when Hinata uttered a few words in her sleep. He made another yawn before the weight of tiredness went over on his eyes, tempting him to fall asleep.

And when he did, Naruto didn't notice that he was leaning on Hinata's head cozily throughout of his slumber.

* * *

_"Neji nii-san," Hinata smiled politely to him, "Thank you for accompanying me today."_

_"It's alright," Neji waved his hands off as the two of them walked from the elevator and towards the front door where the agent was bringing them to. As the agent was explaining to them about the building's good points, Neji teased about Hinata being single when he pointed it out again. She began whining and Neji kept repeated her relationship status, unaware that the agent kept quiet to himself when he realized none of them was listening to him._

_As they approached a front door and knocked on it, they were greeted by huge man with greying long messy hair tied into a traditional ponytail._

_"You're already here, huh?" The man grinned at them as he made way for the visitors into his home. The apartment was small with only two bedrooms. Cardboard boxes were either sealed packed with the owner's belongings and stacked with the rest of boxes or were halfway done. The old man must have been ready to leave since he resumed to packing up in his living room. In the midst of mess of the packed boxes, the agent tried his best to show that the apartment was more appealing than how it currently was. After a round through the rooms, Hinata and Neji got back to the living room to where the owner was. He was sipping on some of his oolong tea as he continued to stash away his belongings into boxes. He smiled at Hinata's and Neji's direction before he went back to packing up._

_The agent went over to talk about the seemingly beautiful view of the city seen with the large window at the living room. It displayed the glorious high summer day and how clouds that drifted by. It was the highlight of the apartment, the main attraction of it._

_Hinata was considering on prices and sorts with the agent. The owner ceased whatever he was doing when the agent called up to him, before try continued discussing over matters. Neji just stayed closed to Hinata, listening word for word and observing every inch of the house. Not that he was satisfied with the apartment but, he wasn't able to argue since Hinata seemed to have grown a little attachment to the home already._

_The old man talked proudly about the apartment and how he needed to leave it soon. He was laughing when the agent nudged his shoulder for talking bad about the other visitors that visited his apartments. The man complimented Hinata for choosing his apartment. He continued yapping, making Neji wonder when he would stop._

_"Um...How should I address you?" Hinata asked when she had the chance to clarify._

_The man paused slowly before he smiled at Hinata politely, "Call me Jiraiya."_

_And just seconds after he said that, a shot was fired from outside the apartment and it smashed through the enormous window next to them into pieces from the impact. Shattered shards of glass flew straight at them. Neji sprinted over to cover Hinata with his jacket but a large sharp shard aimed straight for his bare arm, cutting through his muscles and getting him to feel the immerse piercing pain. He was paralyzed hurt badly and vulnerably helpless. When they thought it was over, there were more shots being blown at their direction, only forcing them to stay down. Electrical appliances started to topple one by one onto the floor when the bullets had hit them. When the flat LCD television hanging from the wall fell abruptly, it caused a blast of flames._

_It happened so fast and everything seemed to topple everywhere, causing it to catch fire quickly. Fortunately, the bullets had ceased and whoever was behind it must have fled._

_Hinata sniffed, still lost in the haze of smoke. Her eyes fluttered open, stinging as she tried to clear her sight. She immediately started coughing. It took only an instant to realize that the room was filled with smoke. Smoke meant fire, and only did she realize that everything around her caught fire quickly. She darted her eyes to look for Neji but the smoke was too thick for her see._

_And she disliked it how she felt weak, how she wasn't able to see a thing. She detested the way how the thick smoke had blocked her from helping anyone she was able to._

_All she could see were the flames dancing and twisting orange. The door was on fire, the cardboard boxes that contained Jiraiya's belonging were burning rapidly and smoke was billowing for the kitchen in thick clouds. She heard roaring, a sound like a train, heard cracks and pops and splintering, her mind taking it in at once._

_It was so loud and she couldn't even hear the sound of her own voice calling out for help. She crawled on all fours, careful not to touch shattered glass and tried to call out for the others. She saw the box Jiraiya was packing his things in awhile ago hidden under his coffee table, unharmed by the flames just yet. She crawled over and when she saw a small reflective light, barely visible through the smoke and where the box was. The wall crawled with fire, flames on the ceiling, moving towards her. She didn't have the time to think and only made her way towards where the coffee table was, where the smoke was less thick._

_She prayed inwardly that someone would have called for help in their aid. In the corner of her eye, she saw through the rummage of things that Jiraiya packed and it was photo albums, photo frames and Polaroid photographs. A couple of them were lying on the floor, ready to get burned off by the flames coming towards Hinata._

_Hinata coughed as she inhaled more of the smoke, afraid that she might be burned alive before help comes. The fire kept dancing, leaping as spurting towards her. Everything in its path was catching on fire. Hinata kept coughing and she tried to ease away from breathing in anymore of the smoke by covering her nose with her hand. __Only then did she realize that a photograph was stuck onto her hand._

_There was a sharp clap, loud enough to make her ears ring. When she took a moment to look over her shoulder, she found one of the walls collapsing inwards. A deafening sound of an explosion knocked her over in the scorching blast of air._

_She stayed down; lying next to the coffee table and the photograph was still in the palm of her hands. She couldn't have a clear vision of what was on the photograph because seconds later, she had passed out, unaware that Neji was somewhere yelling out her name. Her vision grew dim and the only thing she saw before it faded into darkness was Neji scrambling towards her.__  
_

_"Hinata!"_

* * *

"_Hinata._"

She groaned and tugged into the sheets further. It was weird that her neck felt sore and there was a blinding light shone over her eyes. When she finally fluttered her eyes open, Hinata was greeted by Naruto staring right up at her. The morning light that was flaring up from the living room window amplified the deep royal blue in Naruto's eyes. It was such a deep ocean blue and Hinata couldn't help staring at them. She was still half asleep, not noticing how her actions were getting Naruto to fluster and get his face to turn into a deep shade of red.

"Oi,_ Hinata_…" He averted his eyes away from Hinata and covered his face. He didn't mean to wake her up but, she had been shaking terrifyingly from her sleep that it made Naruto concerned. She must had been having a nightmare and Naruto wanted to ask whether she was fine. But, she woke up half awake and lost, which caused Naruto to feel embarrassed. The fact that she woke up clueless and not aware how she shivered through her sleep had caught Naruto off guard. Hinata's puzzled expression kept replaying in Naruto's head, causing him to turn redder and redder.

Hinata was ready fall back to sleep again when she leaned back on Naruto's shoulder, snaked her hands and looped them around Naruto's arms. He would have calmly fall back to sleep again too if not for the fact that he was _this_ close to Hinata. She might have been the one intruding his personal space without her own knowledge of it but, Naruto knew that he wasn't one to take advantage of it.

He might have been a man he surely, it was enough that he intruded her space the first time they met with a kiss. Naruto might have been a man but he isn't a pervert.

_Right?_

Naruto was fighting within himself about his pride as a man or being a kind gentleman. When he finally decided and was about to call her name out and wake her up again, the door bell went off suddenly, causing both Hinata and Naruto to jump.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata turned to Naruto with wide eyes, wondering why she was laying so close to him while Naruto tried to ease her nothing happened. He was explaining that they just fell asleep and that was all but, the door bell kept ringing, annoying Naruto as each second passed without a doubt of the bell ringing continuously. Hinata just nodded when Naruto stared back at her with an apologetic look. His concern for Hinata's nightmare was put on hold and he had to run for the door, greeted by the _least_ person he would have had expected.

"_Teme_?" Naruto's voice squeaked.

The both of them snickered a little until Sasuke noticed Hinata inside his apartment before the Uchiha nudged Naruto by the elbow with a smirk on his face.

"So, _this_ is why Sakura didn't get a call from _her_ last night," Sasuke darted his eyes at Naruto who was waving his hands everywhere, speechless. Ignoring Naruto's attempts of telling Sasuke wrong, Sasuke hung his arms over Naruto's still aching neck and started congratulating the blonde, "You did good, dude."

"What the hell, Teme!? It's not like that!" Naruto shoved Sasuke away from himself before the blonde shut the front door. He didn't want Hinata to hear anymore of their embarrassing conversation and quickly changed the subject, "What do you want anyway?"

"Sakura wanted me to check on you," Sasuke shrugged, which earned a laugh from Naruto.

"You sure are living off it, huh?" Naruto chuckled, "The High school heartthrob, _Sasuke Uchiha_, is still being pushed around by the female population."

Sasuke gave a piercing glare at Naruto before Naruto laughed it off. The two continued to bicker in the hallway, unaware that there was someone curious over their loud uproar. Minori peeped through the front door of Sakura and Sasuke's apartment, curious with their commotion. When the little boy's eyes landed over to the blonde, Minori flung the door open and sprinted quickly towards Naruto to give a tight hug.

"Hey kiddo!" Naruto ruffled the boy's dark messy morning hair before he felt Sasuke gave a tap on the shoulder. The Uchiha had a straight expression before Naruto knew there was a serious matter on hand. When Minori let go and flung Naruto's front door open and saw Hinata, he ran for her and gave her a similar embrace.

"I need to show you something," Sasuke held a grim expression. Naruto aimed his gaze to Hinata when Sasuke asked him to follow him.

"Is this about Minori?" Naruto asked with a similar expression as Sasuke.

Sasuke could only nod when he ran to his office table, switching on his laptop, searching for the file he had saved the Word document of the translation at. Naruto stared in awe when Sasuke flustered over his office table while Sakura kept silent. She sat by the edge of the bed, staring at Sasuke who finally had a satisfied expression over his face when he finally found it. Sakura, on the other hand, could only walk away from the room then, with an unrecognizable expression. Sasuke tried to ignore it when Naruto had pointed it out.

When the Word document finally opened and Naruto read the first few lines, Sasuke just had to inwardly apologize to Sakura if she had to lose her high reputation of her high position. He knew how things would go when he showed Naruto the Word document and the events that would follow. Sasuke knew the chances of things for Sakura's career wouldn't go smoothly when they were to abide to Naruto's request.

But Sasuke knew he had to do it _right_.

And just like how Sasuke had planned, Naruto followed the script in Sasuke's mind. Naruto said the words that Sasuke knew he would say when the blonde read the whole translation.

"_Cancel_ the adoption for Minori."

* * *

**S/N: Now you've got a little hint from where Hinata got her fear of the dark now right? The plot thickens again. Whoops. And I'm just pointing out the fact that yeah, there are some little developments with Naruto and Hinata soon :)**


End file.
